The repugnant plan brewing for state legislatures to steal the election must be stopped

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Opinion

The repugnant plan brewing for state legislatures to steal the election must be stopped

Opinion by Edward B. Foley
Contributing columnist
November 6, 2020 at 11:32 a.m. EST

The electoral college count is going against President Trump. His efforts to overturn those results in courts are unlikely to succeed. So some Republicans — including the president’s son — are starting to promote a bid to have GOP-controlled state legislatures undo the will of the voters in states won by former vice president Joe Biden.

They would accomplish this undemocratic feat with the electoral college version of the nuclear option. The ordinary practice in a state where Biden won the popular-vote total would be that state officials certify the election results and send a slate of electors pledged to Biden to Congress for its formal approval.

But state legislatures that conclude the popular-vote total has somehow been corrupted could claim the constitutional authority to submit competing slates of pro-Trump electors and ask Congress to accept that result instead. That radical move would set up a potential clash between the House, with its Democratic majority, and the Senate, which is likely to remain in Republican hands. This bicameral breakdown would create electoral chaos and a constitutional crisis.

On Thursday, as Trump’s electoral college prospects dimmed, Donald Trump Jr. retweeted conservative commentator Mark Levin: "REMINDER TO THE REPUBLICAN STATE LEGISLATURES, YOU HAVE THE FINAL SAY OVER THE CHOOSING OF ELECTORS.” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) signaled potential support in an appearance on Fox News’s Sean Hannity. “Everything should be on the table,” Graham said. ... This is a horrible idea, one that should be morally repugnant to every American. It is a direct repudiation of the well-settled principle that each state’s electoral votes should be based on ballots cast by its citizens.

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Edward Foley
Edward B. Foley, a Washington Post contributing columnist, writes on matters relating to election law and administration. Follow https://twitter.com/Nedfoley

[catbyte]

1. In Michigan, the legislature doesn't choose electors, the state party of the winner does. And I know

Michigan isn't the only state.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Most of them. Or close. By law and custom legislatures cant overturn the electorate by...

setting up their own candidates after an election has been held.

In every state I know of, the legislature sets up how electors are chosen, but then that is then set in law and cannot be challenged, at least until after the election and the next legislative session.

I believe there are some court decisions about this, too.

[catbyte]

3. I read that legislatures can't change the rules to an election after that election begins.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Yup, that's everything I've seen, although I'm not about to dig around finding citations.

[kurtcagle]

5. I don't see this happening

It would essentially be asking for Civil War at that point (who determines the rules for such an election, for starters). I also believe the military would be forced to step in, and I don't think the GOP is really ready to spark that confrontation.

[KPN]

7. Not that I disagree, but we are pretty close to

civil war as is. It’s not a huge step for them to take from the long strides they’ve already taken. They’ve labeled us their enemy for some years now. No wonder we are here.

[yellowcanine]

6. Lindsey Graham, Mark Levine, Sean Hannity, Trump - that's who thinks this could happen. nuff said.