Posted on 08/17/2019 6:17:04 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Democratic presidential candidates on stage Tuesday and Wednesday night are trying hard to woo primary voters so that, if they prevail, they can then make their case to the general population as the party’s nominee. But the ultimate deciders come 2020 might not be the ones who cast ballots in neighborhood polling stations.
There is a very good chance that the Electoral College will split evenly on Election Day, throwing the race into the House of Representatives. And just as with the popular vote, the majority does not choose the winner. Though Democrats control the House and are likely to hold onto it in 2020, the system currently favors Republicans and all but guarantees Trump will be re-elected.
An obscure constitutional provision spells out how an Electoral College tie is to be broken, with constitutional law professors and a small band of diehard political junkies just about the only ones versed in its details. An evenly split Electoral College between two major party nominees would be unprecedented in American history; the only times the House decided elections were in the case of Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams, when multiple parties competed and neither candidate got an Electoral College majority.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
A good chance? I think not.
A good chance? I think not.
Yes—
Several, I believe three, states under reconstruction submitted two slates of electors, and the qualifications of one Oregon elector were dubious (he was, I believe, a postmaster, and under the Constitution, IIRC, a federal employee is not eligible to be an elector).
The house was held by one party, the senate the other—with each party appointing a 3-2 delegation; the supremes appointed two pubs, their last two dems, and one “non-partisan” justice (perhaps a leftover whig)—but at the last moment, the non-partisan justice, who effectively was going to decide everything, was elected to the Senate by the Republican controlled legislature of his state, which meant that he was replaced by a Pub, since that was all there was left to choose from.
I think the justice was from Massachusetts, but it has been over 30 years since I took American History from a high school teacher who has been deservedly deified by his former students, so I may not have absolutely every detail straight. I’m sure when it came time for the AP test I knew not only the state the justice was from but which party controlled which house, and probably the name of the justice.
And the key thing is that it got the Republicans to end reconstruction. Tillman ending it would not be the same thing at all.
See post 43
Math is hard.
Mr. K taught AP History? Mr. Barnes was not a candidate for deification, though he seemed to fancy himself Lord of the Hallways.
Since 535 is an odd number, there cannot be an even split.
Well, someone had to say it.
If that occurs, then each state delegation will have only one vote.
I thought it was 538.
I’d like to see the odds in Vegas on that “very good chance.”
...all of them will be adding to Trump's 2016 vote totals. Those switching their votes from Dem in '16 will have the force-multiplier effect of taking a vote from the Dem total as they add one to Trump. This will be a wipe-out.
Sorry, I forgot about the 3 DC electoral votes.
Sorry, I forgot about the 3 DC electoral votes. So, an even split is possible at 269 each.
DC gets 3
The problem (as seen by the authors of this piece) is that the Constitution gives each state one vote in the House. So, CA gets one vote and WY gets one vote. Oh, Dear God in Heaven, that’s undemocratic!. Too bad, but we are a republic of 50 sovereign states and each state is equal in its sovereignty to the others. States whose vote is evenly split don’t get a vote.
I’d assumed that he had always taught it. It fit him the way that comp fit your Dad. I’ve never heard of Barnes.
By the time the mid-80’s rolled around, it was his signature class.
My year had 6 5’s and two fours. His first year with no threes—he had at least one other year without threes. Our year was likely the one with the fewest taking the test—and for that matter, the smallest numbers overall. Our future valedictorian bailed on the course. She ended up at a Lutheran school on the west coast. At least five of us who actually took the test headed east to places of the sort that you can’t find in the west. It may have been more, I can’t recall who the other three even were off hand.
dream on David Mark.
Yes, let’s have New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles determine the presidential election. Everyone else can stay home and not vote. That is how the left sees “democracy.”
OR, Trump could win in a landslide.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.