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How Dems Can Stop the Steal [1]
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Date: 2022-07-04
Saw something on this:
Article II Executive Branch
Section 1 President
Clause 2 Electors Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
Thus, state legislatures do seem to be free to appoint electors however they damned-well please. I do not see anything to convince me that the current Supreme Court would not go along with this. Right now, this gives the crazy Republicans a path to subvert democracy.
On the other hand...This gives Democrats a tremendous opportunity.
In any state that there is a Republican running on a stop the steal platform, Democrats should introduce, either as a resolution or as legislation, a law mandating that the vote of the people determines the actions of the legislature in appointing those electors. Force this to a vote. Make every elected official or candidate declare their position.
Where the legislators are not likely to approve of such a law themselves, take the referendum route. Where there is little chance of winning at either, still bring the issue forward. Put elected officials and candidates on record as supporting or opposing it.
Heck, do this in every state. More than likely this will pass in most states. Where it gets jammed up, we will have actual evidence of efforts to undermine democracy. Use that evidence against those anti-democracy legislators and legislative candidates.
If we had time, we could bring this as a proposed Constitutional amendment. We still can, but it probably will not help with elections in the next four years or so.
While I suspect many Republican officials would be willing to override their citizens to get their candidate in office, I doubt many would be willing to go on record to state this publicly. It would amount to declaring that the people’s vote does not matter. Are they really willing to say the quiet part out loud?
Just make a couple of questions part of the campaign.
“Should the people have the right to select their electors?”
“Do you support the right of the people to elect the president or should the legislature have this power?”
“Do you support a strong, neutral, process to oversee voting?”
“Do you support laws to criminalize those who harass or try to intimidate those who supervise elections?”
I can’t see the electoral system being overturned as long as there are as many small as large states. This campaign, however to be the start to rebalance the electoral system, so that a vote in, say, Wyoming, is not worth 3 times the national average. Fair Vote
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