[Political Junkie Too]

...the language in the 12th is mushy.

Now you have my interest piqued.

The 12th amendment says:

The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed;

Article II Section 1 says:

Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors...

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I really would like to know where the "mushiness" lies so I can think about it.

Thanks in advance.

-PJ

[LS]

In whether/when states “appoint.”

If they didn’t “finish counting,” they would immediately go to the courts to insist they are going to “appoint.”

Moreover, keep reading: there are NO penalties for a state that fails to turn in its electors by Dec. 14!! Both the Senate and the Archivist can “request,” but no penalty, And another clause says that the district judge in that district can “request” but no penalty. There is also mushiness in the Bush v. Gore ruling on the Dec. 14 date.

So it is absolutely not clear what happens to a state that doesn’t submit its slate. And you can be darn sure that 100 D lawyers right now have briefs on what the definition of “appointed” is.