WHAT IS THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE? State Laws and Requirements (what about "faithless" electors?)

archives dot gov ^ | 11-26-08

[doug from upland]

NOTE: For the hotlinks, go to the reference source. Sorry for the inconvenience.

The Supreme Court is apparently going to visit the NObama birth certificate controversy. It could be easily solved by Obama by simply producing the original certificate of live birth, showing he was actually born in Hawaii, to the judges in any of the pending state suits. For some reason, about which we can speculate, he has chosen not to do that.

Are we in for a Constitutional crisis? Are we going to see rioting across the country if NObama is determined to not be a natural born US citizen as required by the Constitution? Will NObama electors, who are Dem loyalists, give their electoral votes to Joe Biden? Or, to Hillary Clinton?

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www.archives.gov

November 26, 2008

What is the Electoral College?

State Laws and Requirements

List of Electors Bound by State Law and Pledges, as of November 2000
Source:  Congressional Research Service

The Office of the Federal Register presents this material for informational purposes only, in response to numerous public inquiries. The list has no legal significance. It is based on information compiled by the Congressional Research Service. For more comprehensive information, refer to the statutory provisions provided.

• For a discussion of this topic, see "Must electors vote for the candidate who won their State's popular vote?" in the Electoral College FAQ

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No Legal Requirement
Electors in these States are not bound by State Law to cast their vote for a specific candidate:

ARIZONA - 10 Electoral Votes ARKANSAS - 6 Electoral Votes DELAWARE - 3 Electoral Votes GEORGIA - 15 Electoral Votes IDAHO - 4 Electoral Votes ILLINOIS - 21 Electoral Votes INDIANA - 11 Electoral Votes IOWA - 7 Electoral Votes KANSAS - 6 Electoral Votes KENTUCKY - 8 Electoral Votes LOUISIANA - 9 Electoral Votes MINNESOTA - 10 Electoral Votes

MISSOURI - 11 Electoral Votes NEW HAMPSHIRE - 4 Electoral Votes NEW JERSEY - 15 Electoral Votes NEW YORK - 31 Electoral Votes NORTH DAKOTA - 3 Electoral Votes PENNSYLVANIA - 21 Electoral Votes RHODE ISLAND - 4 Electoral Votes SOUTH DAKOTA - 3 Electoral Votes TENNESSEE - 11 Electoral Votes TEXAS - 34 Electoral Votes UTAH - 5 Electoral Votes WEST VIRGINIA - 5 Electoral Votes

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Legal Requirements or Pledges
Electors in these States are bound by State Law or by pledges to cast their vote for a specific candidate:

ALABAMA - 9 Electoral Votes

Party Pledge / State Law - § 17-19-2

ALASKA - 3 Electoral Votes

Party Pledge / State Law - § 15.30.040; 15.30.070

CALIFORNIA - 55 Electoral Votes

State Law - § 6906

COLORADO - 9 Electoral Votes

State Law - § 1-4-304

CONNECTICUT - 7 Electoral Votes

State Law § 9-175

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA - 3 Electoral Votes

DC Pledge / DC Law - § 1-1312(g)

FLORIDA - 27 Electoral Votes

Party Pledge / State Law - § 103.021(1)

HAWAII - 4 Electoral Votes

State Law - §§ 14-26 to 14-28

MAINE - 4 Electoral Votes

State Law - § 805

MARYLAND - 10 Electoral Votes

State Law - § 20-4

MASSACHUSETTS - 12 Electoral Votes

Party Pledge / State Law - Ch. 53, § 8, Supp.

MICHIGAN - 17 Electoral Votes

State Law - §168.47 (Violation cancels vote and elector is replaced).

MISSISSIPPI - 6 Electoral Votes

Party Pledge / State Law - §23-15-785(3)

MONTANA - 3 Electoral Votes

State Law - §13-25-104

NEBRASKA - 5 Electoral Votes

State Law - § 32-714

NEVADA - 5 Electoral Votes

State Law - § 298.050

NEW MEXICO - 5 Electoral Votes

State Law - § 1-15-5 to 1-15-9 (Violation is a fourth degree felony.)

NORTH CAROLINA - 15 Electoral Votes

State Law - § 163-212 (Violation cancels vote; elector is replaced and is subject to $500 fine.)

OHIO - 20 Electoral Votes

State Law - § 3505.40

OKLAHOMA - 7 Electoral Votes

State Pledge / State Law - 26, §§ 10-102; 10-109 (Violation of oath is a misdemeanor, carrying a fine of up to $1000.)

OREGON - 7 Electoral Votes

State Pledge / State Law - § 248.355

SOUTH CAROLINA - 8 Electoral Votes

State Pledge / State Law - § 7-19-80 (Replacement and criminal sanctions for violation.)

VERMONT - 3 Electoral Votes

State Law - title 17, § 2732

* VIRGINIA - 13 Electoral Votes

State Law - § 24.1-162 (Virginia statute may be advisory - "Shall be expected" to vote for nominees.)

WASHINGTON - 11 Electoral Votes

Party Pledge / State Law - §§ 29.71.020, 29.71.040, Supp. ($1000 fine.)

WISCONSIN - 10 Electoral Votes

State Law - § 7.75

WYOMING - 3 Electoral Votes

State Law - §§ 22-19-106; 22-19-108

Page URL:

http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/laws.html

U.S. National Archives & Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001, • 1-86-NARA-NARA • 1-866-272-6272

[AU72]

If an elector in a State requiring him/her to vote as pledged does not, he/she is answerable to the State but that vote is Constitutionally valid.

[sono]

Doug, why doesn’t say Justice Scalia order the record unsealed and the birth certificate produced as a court exhibit? I’m not a lawyer but that might expedite decision, no?

[doug from upland]

Our Constitutional expert needs to answer that.

[lilylangtree]

Good question!

[Clint N. Suhks]

12th amendment they vote individually for both POTUS and VP. They should vote for Biden for VP at the least and then the 25th amendment takes over as I see it.

[doug from upland]

I’m not sure about that. There may be some states that could invalidate that elector’s vote.

[doug from upland]

How many times has the Vice President been chosen by the U.S. Senate?

Once. In the Presidential election of 1836, the election for Vice President was decided in the Senate. Martin Van Buren’s running mate, Richard M. Johnson, fell one vote short of a majority in the Electoral College. Vice Presidential candidates Francis Granger and Johnson had a “run-off” in the Senate under the 12th Amendment, where Johnson was elected 33 votes to 17.

[Clint N. Suhks]

Those are the 12th’s rules. Our founders had amazing foresight...

[doug from upland]

http://blog.nola.com/SELU/2008/11/the_electoral_college_explaine.html

Faithless electors usually act alone but sometimes form a bloc. Fortunately, faithless electors have never changed the outcome of an election. They can be punished by the state they represent after they have cast a vote outside their pledge, but their votes will still count in determining who will win the election, except in Michigan and Minnesota, where state laws invalidate votes cast other than as pledged.
While 24 states have laws to punish faithless electors, none have actually been punished.

[seekthetruth]

At this point, why would the birth certificate even be needed? If the certificate were to state he was born in Kenya he is not a natural born citizen. If the certificate were to state he was born in Hawaii, he is still not a natural born citizen because he was born a British subject through his father.

If I am wrong, please explain. It just looks like either way he is not a natural born citizen.

[AU72]

In 2000 1 elector from DC did not vote for Gore as required by DC statue, but the vote still stood. I don’t know what happened to her though.

[cotton1706]

If he was indeed born in Hawaii, then the first clause of the 14th amendment makes him a natural born citizen, his father notwithstanding.

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[doug from upland]

As I cited above, both Michigan and Minnesota will negate the electoral vote of a faithless elector.

[Paige]

The Justices can’t do this UNLESS they have a case before them and issue CERT. SCOTUS has to go by the process as does any other court.

[Congressman Billybob]

Note that this list is badly out of date. As of today, the attempt of any Elector to vote differently than as pledged constitutes an automatic resignation (almost all states). In most states, this attempt is also a felony.

When an Elector seeks to violate his/her pledge, the remaining Electors can choose anyone, including the Building Superintendent who is waxing the floor in the hall, swear that person in, and they can cast that vote.

The answer of what happens when a candidate is disqualified, is provided by Horace Greeley, who ran for President but died after the election, but before the Electoral College met. Greeley's Electors were then freed to vote as they chose. The same would happen to Obama's Electors if he were ruled ineligible to receive those votes.

This is the fourth thread on which I've given the Horace Greeley explanation. Doesn't anyone read te threads on FR? Sheesh.

Congressman Billybob

Latest article, "The Barack Obama - King George Connection"

The Declaration, the Constitution, parts of the Federalist, and America's Owner's Manual, here.

[Sherman Logan]

If he was born in Hawaii, he’s a natural-born citizen regardless of his parentage.

If he was born outside the US, he might still qualify as a “natural-born citizen,” since his mother was certainly a citizen, but the issue gets a good deal more complicated and debatable.

The Constitution doesn’t really define who qualifies as a natural-born citizen.

Those pursuing this issue with enthusiasm might want to give a little thought to the probable result of successfully proving the Obama isn’t qualified. The aftermath of MLK’s assassination might be a good place to start.

Doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be pursued, but it shouldn’t be thought of as a cost-free approach to dealing with a political enemy.

[Mouton]

Let me see, we may have a person not qualified to be president but we should not do anything because some individuals may decide to riot...hum, I say bring it on. There is no legal system in the world that is worth its salt if it bows to the point of a bayonet. Yeah, the worse outcome would be that the dimwit from Delaware gets elected but he is qualified and legally could be elected president. Sorry if that would bother the Zero but was it not he who disqualified his opposition when he ran for state office? This would be the ultimate poetic justice and BTW, he has resigned from the Senate, right?

[Mouton]

Let me see, we may have a person not qualified to be president but we should not do anything because some individuals may decide to riot...hum, I say bring it on. There is no legal system in the world that is worth its salt if it bows to the point of a bayonet. Yeah, the worse outcome would be that the dimwit from Delaware gets elected but he is qualified and legally could be elected president. Sorry if that would bother the Zero but was it not he who disqualified his opposition when he ran for state office? This would be the ultimate poetic justice and BTW, he has resigned from the Senate, right?