The Electoral College is required by law to meet on December 14 to elect a president for us. This is how things are done in a representative republic like ours. In a republic, we do not choose our president; instead, we choose the people who will pick a president for us.
What we were really voting for on November 3 was electors, not a president. Some states even identify the electors you are actually voting for, listed under the name of the candidate they have pledged to vote for as a member of the Electoral College. Contrary to Joe Biden’s claim, breathlessly and shamelessly repeated by his fanboys in the Talking Snake Media, it’s impossible to have a “president-elect” until December 14 at the earliest.
But the entire election process is cobbed up in court right now, and the Trump campaign is revealing new likely examples of voter fraud by the day. These will need to be hashed out in court, and that will be a time-consuming process given that the GOP will be submitting hundreds if not thousands of sworn affidavits.
Consequently, courts may prohibit secretaries of state or governors, or whoever is identified in state law, from declaring a winner until all legal issues are addressed. This creates the possibility that some states may not have a duly certified batch of electors who are eligible to vote on Dec. 14. But the law requires the Electoral College to meet on that day, and choose a president. That date is fixed. Ready or not, the Electoral College will vote on that day.
Now a majority is required for a president to be elected by the College. But what if all the certified, authorized electors vote and no candidate receives a majority? The Founders in their wisdom anticipated this possibility and crafted an elegant solution. In such a case, the 12th Amendment sends the election of a president to the House of Representatives where a vote by ballot is to be held “immediately.” That means immediately, which means one way or another a president will be elected on December 14.
In this Dec. 14 election, each state delegation of House members gets one vote - California gets just one vote, and so does Montana. So 50 votes will be cast. Here’s the kicker: Republicans have a majority in the House delegations in 26 states, while the Democrats have a majority in just 22 (two delegations are essentially tied).
The bottom line: if all the current legal challenges cannot be satisfactorily resolved by December 14, Donald Trump will be reelected on that day to a second term by a vote of 26-22, and he - not Joe Biden will be the president-elect.
The author may be contacted at bfischer@afa.net
