2016 elections - because it's never too early

[The Minsky Moment]

The 12th doesn't, but Article II implies it, and doesn't expressly forbid it.

A constitutional command that states that "X shall" generally means that others shall not.

For example, take the Article II clause itself: "Each State shall appoint" - the implication is that appointment of Electors is to be done individually by state and not by any other means.

Article II does of course give the state the power to make the appointment.  But the question is whether it grants the state the power to unmake an appointment it previously made, *after* the elector has already cast his or her ballot, where the 12th amendment clearly suggests that once ballots are cast only the Electors themselves have tasks to perform.

I don't think there is a clear answer to that question - to be more precise I think the answer to that question follows from whatever one's understanding or presuppositions are about the EC as an institution and its purpose.

[Admiral Yi]

A constitutional command that states that "X shall" generally means that others shall not.

The SoS is not casting ballots, making lists, checking them twice, or any other activity reserved to electors.

[derspiess]

According to legbiter's link Trump now has 304 electoral votes.  Two Texas electors voted for "someone else" but Hillary seems to be the net loser in terms of faithless electors.

[The Minsky Moment]

The SoS is not casting ballots, making lists, checking them twice, or any other activity reserved to electors.

The statute says the SoS
+ "presides" over the meeting of Electors - Art 12 doesn't contemplate a non-Elector president for the meeting of Electors
+ "accepts as cast" those ballots which conform with the statute - that looks like taking over the "certify" role of Electors
+ "may not accept and may not count" a non-conforming vote: that contradicts Art 12's provision that the Electors ("they") are the ones that list the number of votes for all persons voted for as President and VP
+  "prepares" the certificate vote and transmits the signed certificate: Art XII clearly states the Electors themselves are to transmit, the same is true of 3 USC 11.

It's very hard to read the Minn statute as a whole and conclude that the SoS - by acting as the final authority as to what Elector votes will be "counted" or "accepted" - is consistent with Art XII that gives the Electors themselves the authority to tally up and certify the votes.

[derspiess]

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/bill-clinton-trump-hillary-loss-232803

Bill Clinton: Trump knows how to get 'angry, white men to vote for him'
By LOUIS NELSON 12/19/16 11:17 AM EST

President-elect Donald Trump "doesn't know much," former President Bill Clinton told a local newspaper earlier this month, but "one thing he does know is how to get angry, white men to vote for him."

Clinton spoke to a reporter from The Record-Review, a weekly newspaper serving the towns of Bedford and Pound Ridge, New York, not far from the Clintons' home in Chappaqua, New York. The former president held court on Dec. 10 in Pleasantville, New York, where he took questions from the reporter and other customers inside a small bookstore.

On the question of Russian cyberattacks damaging the candidacy of his wife, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, the former president said "you would need to have a single-digit IQ not to recognize what was going on." But he blamed FBI Director James Comey for her loss, telling those gathered around him that he had "cost her the election" by announcing with less than two weeks to go before the election that the bureau was examining fresh evidence related to her use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.

Clinton's comments were published in the newspaper's print edition, on Dec. 16, but have not been published online.

The former president confirmed that he had, in fact, received a phone call from Trump on the day after the election and that the Manhattan billionaire was strangely cordial, "like it was 15 years ago" when he was friendly with the Clintons and would socialize with them. Clinton said Trump told him that Hillary Clinton "was tougher than I thought she'd be."

He also scoffed at the regular claim from Trump and his team that the president-elect's Election Day win represented a "landslide" victory, despite the fact that he lost the popular vote. "Landslide? I got something like 370 electoral votes," Clinton said, correctly recalling his 1992 total. "That was a landslide."

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Tell us what you really think, Bill

[MadImmortalMan]

According to legbiter's link Trump now has 304 electoral votes.  Two Texas electors voted for "someone else" but Hillary seems to be the net loser in terms of faithless electors.

It makes sense. Hillary has no chance of winning. Any non-Trump candidate to get a majority would have to be someone who could pull all the Democrat electors plus be attractive for Trump electors to switch to. Which means it would need to be a Republican.

So basically it's not going to happen.

[Legbiter]

Bernie got yet another. 

One of Hawaii's four electors voted for Sen. Bernie Sanders for president Monday.

While Hillary Clinton won the state's popular vote in November, one of Hawaii's electors backed the independent Vermont senator, while the other three voted for Clinton, the Associated Press reports.

http://thehill.com/homenews/news/311119-democratic-elector-in-hawaii-votes-for-sanders

[The Minsky Moment]

So the EC is covering itself in glory.  7 faithless electors now?  That's more votes than some entire states get.

[Valmy]

So the EC is covering itself in glory.  7 faithless electors now?  That's more votes than some entire states get.

I know. It has been at least a century since we had more than one fruitcake in any one election. I suppose it is more evidence of instability in our system.

[The Brain]

Two Texas electors voted for "someone else" but Hillary seems to be the net loser in terms of faithless electors.

Is that even a valid vote?

[derspiess]

Guess who got one of the Texas votes?

[Valmy]

Yep.

We definitely had a historic election.

[alfred russel]

According to legbiter's link Trump now has 304 electoral votes.  Two Texas electors voted for "someone else" but Hillary seems to be the net loser in terms of faithless electors.

Poor Hillary, people seem to always be unfaithful to her.

[Caliga]

 

[Valmy]

See that was just uncalled for.