Tag: Electoral College

Electoral College, Election Meltdown on Democratic Principles

Posted on by alexesguerra
Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy
Election Meltdown

Richard L. Hasen (Author) writes on his book, As the 2020 presidential campaign begins to take shape, there is widespread distrust of the fairness and accuracy of American elections. In this timely and accessible book, Richard L. Hasen uses riveting stories illustrating four factors increasing the mistrust. Voter suppression has escalated as a Republican tool aimed to depress turnout of likely Democratic voters, fueling suspicion. Pockets of incompetence in election administration, often in large cities controlled by Democrats, have created an opening to claims of unfairness. Old‑fashioned and new‑fangled dirty tricks, including foreign and domestic misinformation campaigns via social media, threaten electoral integrity. Inflammatory rhetoric about “stolen” elections supercharges distrust among hardcore partisans.

Book Description

Outlining the necessary steps to create an election process that is trusted by all, Richard L. Hasen describes the four factors most threatening the integrity of the 2020 presidential contest: voter suppression; incompetence in election administration; misinformation campaigns; and inflammatory rhetoric undermining faith in the integrity of elections.

The US Constitution cites on ArtII.S1.C2.1.2.3 Discretion of Electors in Choosing a President.

Article II, Section 1, Clause 2:

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.

Quoting from Wikepedia.org.

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and all persons voted for as Vice-President and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;

The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;

The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.[a]

The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.[1]

American voters elect the President and Vice President of the United States indirectly, through an arrangement known as the electoral college system. The electoral college system comprises a complex mosaic of constitutional provisions, state and federal laws, and political party rules and practices.

Richard L. Hasen‘s book very much describes  the most threatening the integrity of the 2020 presidential contest: voter suppression; incompetence in election administration; misinformation campaigns; and inflammatory rhetoric undermining faith in the integrity of elections. With the misinformation campaigns started by the 45th President, and now the seditious fiasco combined with the same elected officials recently elected in the US Capitol, not only with this open to make new books written historically but this can be a demise of a political party.

Voters losing faith in the integrity of elections is one of the greatest risks any democracy faces. And in the long run when history is written the people that have connived will face the same voters again on their political future.

The congressional joint session to count electoral votes is generally a routine, ceremonious affair. But President Donald Trump’s repeated, baseless efforts to challenge Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential victory will bring more attention than usual to the Jan. 6 joint session of the Senate and the House.

The congressional count is the final step in reaffirming Biden’s presidential win, after the Electoral College officially elected him on Monday. The meeting is required by the U.S. Constitution, and includes several distinct steps.

The Constitution requires Congress to meet and count the electoral votes. If there is a tie, then the House decides the presidency, with each congressional delegation having one vote. That hasn’t happened since the 1800s, and Joe Biden’s electoral win over Trump was decisive, 306-232. https://apnews.com/

The last time such an objection was considered was 2005, when Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio and Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, both Democrats, objected to Ohio’s electoral votes by claiming there were voting irregularities. Both chambers debated the objection and rejected it. It was only the second time such a vote had occurred.

The role of the vice president as presiding officer is often an awkward one, as it will be for Pence, who will be charged with announcing Biden’s victory — and his own defeat — once the electoral votes are counted. It will be especially tense for the former Indiana congressman as his boss, Trump, has refused to concede.

It can be long day of debates and discussions for the US Capitol on January 6 on this Constitution requirement as final step to reaffirm the 46th President and Vice-President win in the November 2020 elections.
In the end, the new President – Elect and Vice-President will be declared as winners, case closed.

“A hard-hitting critique of the American election process as timely as it is frightening. . . . Required reading for legislators and voters.”—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review -- Election Meltdown

There was campaign confusion about Clinton’s first interview. Here’s how it really happened. – CNN

Posted on by alexesguerra

https://apple.news/Abn9zP0PASfmXf1i5OjRwAw  shattered

Today when “Shattered” hit the bookstores, it almost sold out in a matter of hours from the shelves. This just shows how people are still trying to wake up to the reality that Hillary Clinton lost the November 2016 elections.

Lessons to comparisons from 2008 to 2016 in how Hillary tried to change her image yet still embarked on the same analytic online metrics rather than grassroots level campaigns which after all she and Former President Bill Clinton used to be sublimed experts in reaching out directly to underlying communities.

Having had the experience on seeing and somewhat involved in years of Presidential campaigns from the Reagan, Bush and Clinton years, Obama truly changed a lot of the mechanics of campaigning garnering armies online and social media.

In spite of this fact, the making of First Lady, Senator, Sec. Of State Hillary Clinton are still integrally image attached to the years pre-Obama. What does it mean? It’s simply that although data analytics online where indeed giving the numbers Hillary’s campaign wanted to see, the candidate should have more reach out directly with localism campaigns and direct contact. Hence, this was also trending in 2008 hoping that her concession speech then would have gotten more direction to her staff. So although a lot of us are still trying to decipher why she lost and keeps hovering on the Electoral College, grassroots campaigns electioneering might be a real factor why such a lost being tied to the making then of candidate Clinton.

So far what we know years from now historians will write about the first woman to achieved nomination to a US Presidential campaign and likewise her accomplishments will tie all what Hillary is all about. Yet as we know we haven’t seen the last of Mrs. Clinton.