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Court rules Electoral College members aren't bound by popular vote
Washington Times ^

Posted on 08/21/2019 2:28:30 PM PDT by mplc51

DENVER — A U.S. appeals court in Denver said Electoral College members can vote for the presidential candidate of their choice and aren’t bound by the popular vote in their states. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the Colorado secretary of state violated the Constitution in 2016 when he removed an elector and nullified his vote when the elector refused to cast his ballot for Democrat Hillary Clinton, who won the popular vote. It was not immediately clear what effect the ruling might have on the Electoral College system, which is established in the Constitution. Voters in each state choose members of the Electoral College, called electors, who are pledged to a presidential candidate. The electors then choose the president. Most states require electors to vote for the candidate who won the popular vote in that state, but the Denver appeals court said the states do not have that authority. The Constitution allows electors to cast their votes at their own discretion, the ruling said, “and the state does not possess countervailing authority to remove an elector and to cancel his vote in response to the exercise of that Constitutional right.”

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: appealscourt; colorado; constitution; denver; electoralcollege; faithlesselectors; lawsuit; nationalpopularvote; npv; ruling
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To: DIRTYSECRET
Somehow that makes me hot for Diana Ross.

You do realize she's 75 years old now.
121 posted on 08/21/2019 4:20:04 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana ("...a choice between Woke-fevered Democrats and Koch-funded Republicans is insufficient."-Mark Steyn)
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To: Undecided 2012
It’s called a hoagie

Grinders.
122 posted on 08/21/2019 4:21:35 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana ("...a choice between Woke-fevered Democrats and Koch-funded Republicans is insufficient."-Mark Steyn)
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To: mlo
Based on what words? There's nothing there that implies such a thing.

"In such manner as the legislature may direct.

123 posted on 08/21/2019 4:22:26 PM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: antidemoncrat

The vote was 2 to 1 and thus not the full court. It will be overturned, either by review of the 10th or by the Supreme Court.


124 posted on 08/21/2019 4:23:18 PM PDT by Bookshelf
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To: mplc51

should SCOTUS uphold this, then Electors can choose to ignore the National Popular Vote Pact in the unlikely event enough states join the Pact to make it go active ...

i bet the Colorado leftists never thought about that when they filed their lawsuit ...


125 posted on 08/21/2019 4:31:40 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: Reagan80

“Once you are a Faithless Elector, your party will never put you on a future slate of Electors.

and probably not let you get involved in party politics ever again in any position, including cleaning the bathrooms in local county party headquarters .


126 posted on 08/21/2019 4:34:09 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: Freeborn

Colorado imposed such a law, and the Court has thrown it out.

Obviously, I’m in the minority here, but the decision is consistent with the doctrine of original intent.

Amendment 12 says that the electors sign the lists; it does not say that they sign the ballots. The best I can show you right now is this:

https://scholarship.law.gwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1627&context=faculty_publications

Therein the Tennessee list was filled out correctly, and the Georgia list was not quite. (For the record I think it was properly counted for Jefferson and Burr) Ideally we need a split delegation vote to really demonstrate the point (only such delegation was Rhode Island that year).

Aha!

https://elections.lib.tufts.edu/catalog/tufts:us.potus.1800
So no the ballots weren’t signed, just the lists.

The obligation is with the parties to run loyal electors.

I am also of the opinion that former President of the United States is an office of trust or profit of the United States (pension, secret service) and Bill Clinton was ineligible to serve as elector. I was inclined to think that just his vote should have been disqualified but after rereading the Virginia Law Review article, I think the entire New York vote should have been disqualified.


127 posted on 08/21/2019 4:35:50 PM PDT by scrabblehack
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To: sport

Are we as determined to see him[President Trump[ returned to the White House as they are as they are to keep him out.
_____________________________________________________________
Absolutely.

Their mask is off.

Want proof? They’ve gone from “He’s a narcissist” to “He has early Alzheimer’s” to “He’s gonna die from his lousy diet and no gym time” to “He’s thriving and looks younger, contrary to all other Presidents, because he doesn’t care.”

No one believes any of it.


128 posted on 08/21/2019 4:37:11 PM PDT by reformedliberal
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To: catnipman

But you might go on to become the Presidential nominee for another party (Republican Roger MacBride voted for Libertarians John Hospers/Theodora Nathan rather than Nixon/Agnew in 1972) - became the Libertarian nominee in 1976.


129 posted on 08/21/2019 4:41:02 PM PDT by scrabblehack
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To: Freeborn

“...the electoral college was the means to ensure it was the states that elected the Executive.”

No, it was intended to keep the big states from controlling an election.

Why do you think the Left now hates the electoral college?


130 posted on 08/21/2019 4:41:08 PM PDT by odawg
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To: VanDeKoik
Am I off here....because hasn’t this always been the case?

Depends on the state and the party rules.

Some states have you sign a oath to vote for the candidate of the party you represent. If you do not your vote is considered null and you are replaced.

131 posted on 08/21/2019 4:43:29 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Human beings don't behave rationally. We rationalize our behavior.)
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To: edie1960

in 2016 there were 7 faithless electors.


132 posted on 08/21/2019 4:45:31 PM PDT by matt1234 (Jan. 20, 2017: the national nightmare ended.)
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To: Redwood71

I think the codicil that states appoint electors by whichever manner the state prescribes makes the faithless elector laws constitutional. The constitution deliberately says that the states can make up their own rules on the subject.


133 posted on 08/21/2019 4:45:53 PM PDT by MortMan (Americans are a people increasingly separated by our connectivity.)
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To: Skywise
Thanx for the informed posts; it's sometime despairing to witness the lack of constitutional knowledge at forum ostensibly devoted to republican ideals.

First and foremost, we should be mindful that when the constitution was ratified by the states (thus bringing the fed government itself into existence), there wasn't a single presidential election day. Rather, over periods of weeks, the various states, by different methodologies reached agreements on how their state's electors would cast their votes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_Day_(United_States)

With respect to this court decision, it's simply observing that the chosen method of enforcing elector compliance is unconstitutional; it is silent as to whether states can enforce electors by different methods/means (they can).

Secondly, this opinion does not address the current 'popular vote' compact of states either. That's a separate issue altogether, as it actually violates constitutional guarantees ensuring a republican form of government ie no direct democracy between states. (That in effect is why the compact will ultimately fail as well.)

So, we've come full circle where state appointed electors elect the president. The fail safe is they act in good faith according to political will within the respective state. That in turn is the responsibility of each state legislature, which in turn answer to the constituent power of the people.

134 posted on 08/21/2019 4:46:12 PM PDT by semantic
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To: mplc51

This is the correct, constitutional decision. Does it also mean that John Kasich gets an electoral vote?


135 posted on 08/21/2019 4:47:53 PM PDT by IndispensableDestiny
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To: Celerity
"Faithless" electors have been a thing, the problem is this means there will be no consequences if enough states join the "national popular vote" compact which nullifies the electoral college and would've ensured Hillary & Gore won.

The electors can either decide to vote as the state voters did or follow the compact.

136 posted on 08/21/2019 4:51:47 PM PDT by newzjunkey (Vote Giant Meteor in 2020)
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To: Skywise

+1! I see it as a win as well. The states cannot compel an Elector to vote for the “popular” winner.


137 posted on 08/21/2019 4:55:02 PM PDT by Afterguard (Deplorable me!)
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To: God luvs America

These electors faced massive pressure, intimidation and no doubt huge bribe offers. Nothing was done to the army of leftists that made the electors lives hell. The Hollywood creeps even made a video appeal for the electors to vote for Kasich or anyone other than Trump. This ruling is dangerous as hell.


138 posted on 08/21/2019 5:00:23 PM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: mplc51

“Who puts in the Electoral College members?”

Their State Legislatures.


139 posted on 08/21/2019 5:03:29 PM PDT by Jim Noble (There is nothing racist in stating plainly what most people already know)
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To: Don Corleone; All

The Court, for once, merely follows the Constitution and should not surprise anyone with knowledge of it. State legislatures could legally run a lottery to determine who the electors are.

There are a couple of relevant points: when the Constitution was written Honor was important to most people and there were NO POLITICAL PARTIES at that time.

Jefferson and Madison created the first party which became the Demon party in an attempt to thwart Hamilton’s influence and control of the Washington administration.


140 posted on 08/21/2019 5:08:28 PM PDT by arrogantsob (See "Chaos and Mayhem" at Amazon.com)
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