I'm not a constitutional scholar, but my understanding is that when you vote for a presidential candidate, you are really voting for an Elector pledged to that particular candidate.
If that's true, then replacing Hillary would not be a big deal. Electors pledged to Hillary would just vote for the current Dem nominee when the Electoral College meets.
But dollars-to-donuts, ONE early Hillary voter will claim that with Hillary off the ballot, she (OF COURSE it will be "she") would have voted for Jill Stein because Stein has a VJ and Crazy Bernie or Creepy Uncle Joe don't (AFAIK).
The whole mess would end up in court, of course.
However, this Charlie Foxtrot is no more than entertainment -- as long as Hillary has a pulse and is conscious for a few minutes a day, her handlers aren't going to let her quit.
. . . when you vote for a presidential candidate, you are really voting for an Elector pledged to that particular candidate.Replacing Hillary at this point will create a real mess... what happens to the votes already cast?
. . . replacing Hillary would not be a big deal. Electors pledged to Hillary would just vote for the current Dem nominee when the Electoral College meets.
Correct. An Elector is a (short-lived) state office.This dramatizes the “faithless elector” issue, in that the populist view is that the people of the state vote for POTUS - but the Constitution would not have even created the office of Elector if that was what was intended. The Constitution does not even so much as mention the possibility that the Electors of a given state will be popularly elected.
To dramatize the difference, consider that in nearly all but not all states, the Electors all stand for election statewide. But in Nebraska (and, what is it, Maine?) only two Electors stand for office statewide, and the rest each run in a Congressional District.
There cannot, in that context, be a federal case against the Electors. That does not compute. Elector is a state office, filled by a person selected (that’s the word in the Constitution) "in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct.” That could be by lottery, for all the federal government is allowed under the Constitution to care. The only thing an Elector cannot be, is a federal official.