Jeff Greenfield: The Faithless-Elector Fantasy Is Fun, but Its Just a Fantasy

[brooklynite]

The Daily Beast:

When it comes to faithless electors, I wrote the book—literally.

Okay, it was a novel, and a satirical one at that. But I did immerse myself in the law, and the lore, of the Electoral College, and the potential for “faithless” (or rebellious or courageous) electors to throw the whole process of picking a president into a cocked hat. (The novel, The People’s Choice, is available at fine church basements and rummage sales, or here.)

It’s from this perspective that I’m watching the various efforts to deprive Donald Trump of his majority when the electors meet in their respective states this week. There are six Democratic electors from Washington and Colorado trying to persuade their Republican counterparts to join them in voting for Mitt Romney or for Ohio Governor John Kasich. (Kasich’s rejected the idea out of hand). There’s a Texas Trump elector who says he can’t vote for him. There’s Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig, who promises to offer free legal defense to any Trump elector who votes for Hillary Clinton.

...snip...

In theory, Trump would offer the perfect case for rebellion. He lost the popular vote by 2.7 million votes; four of the last five GOP presidential nominees and a substantial cohort of Republican senators refused to back him. Even now, after the election, a majority of Americans believe he lacks the temperament or qualifications to be president.

But when theory meets reality, the prospects dim to invisibility. To begin with, Trump’s electoral majority is simply too big. Think back to 2000, when George W. Bush emerged from the post-election battle with 271 electoral votes. Had only three of his electors defected to Gore—on the ground, say that Gore had won half a million votes more than Bush, he would have had the majority (at least temporarily; more on that in a moment). Not a single Bush elector bolted; including those unbound by any state law forcing them to stay with their pledged candidate. The prospect of persuading 37 Trump electors to rebel is all but non-existent.

nb -- I've read THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE and it's very entertaining.

[unblock]

1. this is what i've been saying, in fact we had a far better chance in 2000,

but even that was never going to happen. had the supremes not halted the recount with the horrendous bush v. gore decision, and even if gore had won the recount, the florida legislature would have either picked bush electors anyway or simply not sent anyone at all, declaring the entire election flubbed or too close to call. then the house of representatives would have picked shrub.

same thing this time round. all paths to the presidency go through institutions controlled by partisan republicans, so we democrats don't stand a chance no matter how right we are, no matter how wrong they are.


what we can do is oppose their actual actions and proposals, and build up for 2018 and 2020. if there's a silver lining in this very dark cloud, it's that our chances of winning the house will improve considerably after trump's been on display for a while. if not in 2018, then in 2020.

[etherealtruth]

2. The repukes are drunk with power ... it is possible that an elector or two would do the right thing

Electors are very partisan party members ... there is no way .... even in the face of a dangerous buffoon that they would let go of this kind of power

[Initech]

3. They've been drunk with power since the 80's.

And now they're celebrating in the same way the school bully would after he beats you up and takes your lunch money. They're going to get absolute power thanks to this stolen election - which is now more than ever evident that it was stolen. They'll hang on to this for years, even decades. They got taken down a peg with Obama, but I doubt that we'll ever get power back. If they get six seats in SCOTUS, we're doomed.

[etherealtruth]

4. I have felt sick since November 9 (sadly, not an exageration)

[melody]

5. There is absolutely nothing usual about this situation

The book promo is nice, but this is not the same as any situation we've ever found ourselves in.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. If the Electoral College cannot make a choice, then the name should be changed to reflect

their limits: They are delegates, not electors. If they can't change their votes, then it's not an election.