Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > At Least 50 Trump Electors Were Illegitimately Seated as Electoral
College Members
________________________________________
At Least 50 Trump Electors Were Illegitimately Seated as Electoral College
Members
By Steven Rosenfeld [1] / AlterNet [2]
January 4, 2017
More than 50 Electoral College members who voted for Donald Trump were
ineligible to serve as presidential electors because they did not live in
the congressional districts they represented or held elective office in
states legally barring dual officeholders.
That stunning finding is among the conclusions of an extensive 1,000-plus
page legal briefing [3] prepared by a bipartisan nationwide legal team for
members of Congress who are being urged to object to certifying the 2016
Electoral College results on Friday.
"Trump's ascension to the presidency is completely illegitimate," said Ryan
Clayton of Americans Take Action [4], who is promoting the effort. "It's not
just Russians hacking our democracy. It's not just voter suppression at
unprecedented levels. It is also [that] there are Republicans illegally
casting ballots in the Electoral College, and in a sufficient number that
the results of the Electoral College proceedings are illegitimate as well."
"Republicans like to talk all the time about people voting illegally,"
Clayton continued. "We have a list of a bunch of Republicans that allegedly
voted illegally in the Electoral College. Pam Bondi is the attorney general
of the state of Florida and the Florida Constitution says that you cannot
hold two offices. And she holds the office of Attorney General and she holds
the office of federal elector in the Electoral College. That is a violation
of the law. That is a violation of the Constitution. And the vote that she
cast in this election is illegal."
A joint congressional session is scheduled to ratify the 2016 Electoral
College vote this Friday. While there have been calls to challenge that
certification-including one women-led effort [5] saying Trump's victory is
due to voter suppression targeting people of color-the analysis that scores
of Trump electors were illegally seated, and the additional finding that
most states won by Trump improperly filed their Electoral College
"Certificates of Vote" with Congress, is unprecedented.
Their research and report grew out of the legal activities surrounding the
December 19 Electoral College meeting, where Clayton and others urged
Republican electors to reject Trump saying they had a constitutional
responsibility to pick a more qualified president.
Clayton is hoping that sufficient numbers of Republicans in Congress will
not vote to ratify the Electoral College results, thus depriving Trump of
the 270 Electoral College votes he needs to win the presidency. If that
transpires, the House would then decide between the three top Electoral
College vote-getters-Trump, Hillary Clinton and Colin Powell, he said.
(Colin Powell got several electoral college votes-write-ins-while Gary
Johnson got none. The Powell votes were from the Democratic electors
academics call "faithless electors.")
But before any of that can happen, there needs to be a formal challenge to
ratifying the 2016 Electoral College results in Friday's joint session of
Congress, which is where the research finding that scores of Trump votes
were illegally cast comes in.
"We have reason to believe that there are at least 50 electoral votes that
were not regularly given or not lawfully certified (16 Congressional
District violations and 34 Dual Office-Holder violations)," the executive
summary of the Electoral Vote Objection Packet said [3]. "The number could
be over a hundred. We urge you to prepare written objections for January 6."
"The compiling of the laws and evidence in this Electoral Vote Objection
Package was completed by a national team of roughly 15 pro bono attorneys,
law students, and legal assistants who represent no client or entity," the
summary said [3]. "We are non-partisan-Democrat, Republican, and
Independent. We live in different parts of the country, urban and rural, red
states and blue states."
Challenging the Electoral College
The Electoral College's results have only been challenged twice since 1877.
The most recent was in 2005, when an objection to Ohio's Electoral College
votes was filed by Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, D-OH, and Sen. Barbara Boxer,
D-CA. While that effort did not stop President George W. Bush's reelection,
it did force both chambers of Congress to debate for two hours before the
Electoral College vote was ratified. Tubbs-Jones and Boxer used the podium
to rail against GOP efforts to suppress the vote and disqualify ballots in
communities of color.
The process for challenging the Electoral College vote is two-fold. First, a
House member has to file a formal challenge and objection. Then one House
member and one senator have to sign on, prompting each body to retire to
their chambers for the two-hour debate.
The Electoral Vote Objection Packet briefing cites two main areas where 2016
Electoral College members were illegally seated and a third where their
votes electing Trump were improperly sent to Congress.
"Specifically, at least 16 electors lived outside the congressional
districts they represented in violation of state statutory residency
requirements, and at least 34 electors held dual offices, in direct
violation of statutes prohibiting dual-office holding," the briefing's
executive summary says, noting this violates two sections of the U.S.
Constitution.
The first group of illegitimate electors amounts to political carpetbagging.
"In North Carolina, for instance," the briefing says, a state law, "NCGS
163-1(c) states, 'One presidential elector shall be nominated from each
congressional district.' Yet, we have voter registration cards showing that
numerous North Carolina electors lived outside the congressional districts
they represented."
The report lists the following states and their number of illegitimate
electors: Arkansas (two from outside its congressional district); Indiana
(one), Louisiana (one), Michigan (one), North Carolina (seven), Oklahoma
(one), and Texas (three).
The second group of illegitimate electors is based on the fact that
presidential electors hold a federal office, however short-lived, and that
directly conflicts with states that ban elected officials from holding more
than one office at a time. Florida's state constitution, for example, bars
dual-office holding. Its Supreme Court has issued rulings that further
define what constitutes an officeholder. And the state legislature has
passed other laws treating them as public officials, such as reimbursing
them for travel costs.
"Ironically, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has issued a number of
Advisory Legal Opinions on dual-office holding, was a presidential elector,"
the briefing said. "Her name was on the Governor's certification list of
Republican electors, and also Attorney General Bondi cast her electoral
ballot on December 19. Joe Negron, who also cast an electoral vote, is
currently president of the Florida Senate."
The report lists the following states and their number of illegitimate
electors based on dual-office holders: Alabama (two), Florida (12), Georgia
(four), Iowa (two), Kansas (four), Kentucky (one), Michigan (one), Missouri
(one), Nebraska (one), North Carolina (one), Ohio (one), Oklahoma (two),
Pennsylvania (two), South Carolina (one), South Dakota (three), Tennessee
(two), Texas (four), Utah (one), and West Virginia (three). This tally,
which adds up to 49 electors, was taken from a spreadsheet accompanying the
briefing and is a larger number than what was cited in the report's
executive summary, which is quoted above.
Finally, there is another area of concern. Apparently, 23 states-out of the
31 that cast Electoral College votes for Trump-did not properly report
separate vote counts for president and vice-president to Congress. That
violates the 12th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and a federal law
requiring presidential electors in each state to "provide 'two distinct
lists of votes,' one for the president and the other for the Vice
President," the briefing said. "Of 31 states, only eight states followed
that law," the report said. "Some states codify the federal law into their
own state law regarding presidential electors. Of those, 15 states did not
provide two lists of signatures on their Certificates of Vote."
"We are not providing any legal advice," the briefing's disclaimer says. "We
strongly suggest that members of Congress employ their own legal teams to
verify our work."
It may be that the efforts to convince Congress to challenge the
ratification of the 2016 Electoral College amounts to little more than a
Hail Mary aimed at derailing a Trump presidency. As of late Wednesday,
Clayton thought there would be House members willing to object to certifying
the Electoral College vote, but he was less certain about finding a senator
willing to go along.
But even if a challenge is mounted and fails, it underscores the
illegitimate basis of Trump's presidency and the deep opposition to it, and
refutes the GOP's outrageous claim that it has a mandate for dismantling
government programs across the board.
"We have a list of 50 illegal electors," Clayton said. "That puts Donald
Trump below the threshold that he needs to be elected president. Let's
debate it in an open session. According to the Constitution, the Congress,
if nobody wins on the first round of balloting, picks from the top three
candidates. That will be Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Colin Powell."
Steven Rosenfeld covers national political issues for AlterNet, including
America's democracy and voting rights, campaigns and elections, and many
social justice issues. He is the author of "Count My Vote: A Citizen's Guide
to Voting" (AlterNet Books, 2008).
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Source URL:
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ately-seated-electoral-college-members
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/steven-rosenfeld
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code=788otalK
[4] http://americanstakeaction.com/
[5]
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/activists-urge-racist-presidential-ele
ction-results-should-not-be-certified
[6] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on At Least 50 Trump
Electors Were Illegitimately Seated as Electoral College Members
[7] http://www.alternet.org/
[8] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > At Least 50 Trump Electors Were Illegitimately Seated as Electoral
College Members
At Least 50 Trump Electors Were Illegitimately Seated as Electoral College
Members
By Steven Rosenfeld [1] / AlterNet [2]
January 4, 2017
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More than 50 Electoral College members who voted for Donald Trump were
ineligible to serve as presidential electors because they did not live in
the congressional districts they represented or held elective office in
states legally barring dual officeholders.
That stunning finding is among the conclusions of an extensive 1,000-plus
page legal briefing [3] prepared by a bipartisan nationwide legal team for
members of Congress who are being urged to object to certifying the 2016
Electoral College results on Friday.
"Trump's ascension to the presidency is completely illegitimate," said Ryan
Clayton of Americans Take Action [4], who is promoting the effort. "It's not
just Russians hacking our democracy. It's not just voter suppression at
unprecedented levels. It is also [that] there are Republicans illegally
casting ballots in the Electoral College, and in a sufficient number that
the results of the Electoral College proceedings are illegitimate as well."
"Republicans like to talk all the time about people voting illegally,"
Clayton continued. "We have a list of a bunch of Republicans that allegedly
voted illegally in the Electoral College. Pam Bondi is the attorney general
of the state of Florida and the Florida Constitution says that you cannot
hold two offices. And she holds the office of Attorney General and she holds
the office of federal elector in the Electoral College. That is a violation
of the law. That is a violation of the Constitution. And the vote that she
cast in this election is illegal."
A joint congressional session is scheduled to ratify the 2016 Electoral
College vote this Friday. While there have been calls to challenge that
certification-including one women-led effort [5] saying Trump's victory is
due to voter suppression targeting people of color-the analysis that scores
of Trump electors were illegally seated, and the additional finding that
most states won by Trump improperly filed their Electoral College
"Certificates of Vote" with Congress, is unprecedented.
Their research and report grew out of the legal activities surrounding the
December 19 Electoral College meeting, where Clayton and others urged
Republican electors to reject Trump saying they had a constitutional
responsibility to pick a more qualified president.
Clayton is hoping that sufficient numbers of Republicans in Congress will
not vote to ratify the Electoral College results, thus depriving Trump of
the 270 Electoral College votes he needs to win the presidency. If that
transpires, the House would then decide between the three top Electoral
College vote-getters-Trump, Hillary Clinton and Colin Powell, he said.
(Colin Powell got several electoral college votes-write-ins-while Gary
Johnson got none. The Powell votes were from the Democratic electors
academics call "faithless electors.")
But before any of that can happen, there needs to be a formal challenge to
ratifying the 2016 Electoral College results in Friday's joint session of
Congress, which is where the research finding that scores of Trump votes
were illegally cast comes in.
"We have reason to believe that there are at least 50 electoral votes that
were not regularly given or not lawfully certified (16 Congressional
District violations and 34 Dual Office-Holder violations)," the executive
summary of the Electoral Vote Objection Packet said [3]. "The number could
be over a hundred. We urge you to prepare written objections for January 6."
"The compiling of the laws and evidence in this Electoral Vote Objection
Package was completed by a national team of roughly 15 pro bono attorneys,
law students, and legal assistants who represent no client or entity," the
summary said [3]. "We are non-partisan-Democrat, Republican, and
Independent. We live in different parts of the country, urban and rural, red
states and blue states."
Challenging the Electoral College
The Electoral College's results have only been challenged twice since 1877.
The most recent was in 2005, when an objection to Ohio's Electoral College
votes was filed by Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, D-OH, and Sen. Barbara Boxer,
D-CA. While that effort did not stop President George W. Bush's reelection,
it did force both chambers of Congress to debate for two hours before the
Electoral College vote was ratified. Tubbs-Jones and Boxer used the podium
to rail against GOP efforts to suppress the vote and disqualify ballots in
communities of color.
The process for challenging the Electoral College vote is two-fold. First, a
House member has to file a formal challenge and objection. Then one House
member and one senator have to sign on, prompting each body to retire to
their chambers for the two-hour debate.
The Electoral Vote Objection Packet briefing cites two main areas where 2016
Electoral College members were illegally seated and a third where their
votes electing Trump were improperly sent to Congress.
"Specifically, at least 16 electors lived outside the congressional
districts they represented in violation of state statutory residency
requirements, and at least 34 electors held dual offices, in direct
violation of statutes prohibiting dual-office holding," the briefing's
executive summary says, noting this violates two sections of the U.S.
Constitution.
The first group of illegitimate electors amounts to political carpetbagging.
"In North Carolina, for instance," the briefing says, a state law, "NCGS
163-1(c) states, 'One presidential elector shall be nominated from each
congressional district.' Yet, we have voter registration cards showing that
numerous North Carolina electors lived outside the congressional districts
they represented."
The report lists the following states and their number of illegitimate
electors: Arkansas (two from outside its congressional district); Indiana
(one), Louisiana (one), Michigan (one), North Carolina (seven), Oklahoma
(one), and Texas (three).
The second group of illegitimate electors is based on the fact that
presidential electors hold a federal office, however short-lived, and that
directly conflicts with states that ban elected officials from holding more
than one office at a time. Florida's state constitution, for example, bars
dual-office holding. Its Supreme Court has issued rulings that further
define what constitutes an officeholder. And the state legislature has
passed other laws treating them as public officials, such as reimbursing
them for travel costs.
"Ironically, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has issued a number of
Advisory Legal Opinions on dual-office holding, was a presidential elector,"
the briefing said. "Her name was on the Governor's certification list of
Republican electors, and also Attorney General Bondi cast her electoral
ballot on December 19. Joe Negron, who also cast an electoral vote, is
currently president of the Florida Senate."
The report lists the following states and their number of illegitimate
electors based on dual-office holders: Alabama (two), Florida (12), Georgia
(four), Iowa (two), Kansas (four), Kentucky (one), Michigan (one), Missouri
(one), Nebraska (one), North Carolina (one), Ohio (one), Oklahoma (two),
Pennsylvania (two), South Carolina (one), South Dakota (three), Tennessee
(two), Texas (four), Utah (one), and West Virginia (three). This tally,
which adds up to 49 electors, was taken from a spreadsheet accompanying the
briefing and is a larger number than what was cited in the report's
executive summary, which is quoted above.
Finally, there is another area of concern. Apparently, 23 states-out of the
31 that cast Electoral College votes for Trump-did not properly report
separate vote counts for president and vice-president to Congress. That
violates the 12th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and a federal law
requiring presidential electors in each state to "provide 'two distinct
lists of votes,' one for the president and the other for the Vice
President," the briefing said. "Of 31 states, only eight states followed
that law," the report said. "Some states codify the federal law into their
own state law regarding presidential electors. Of those, 15 states did not
provide two lists of signatures on their Certificates of Vote."
"We are not providing any legal advice," the briefing's disclaimer says. "We
strongly suggest that members of Congress employ their own legal teams to
verify our work."
It may be that the efforts to convince Congress to challenge the
ratification of the 2016 Electoral College amounts to little more than a
Hail Mary aimed at derailing a Trump presidency. As of late Wednesday,
Clayton thought there would be House members willing to object to certifying
the Electoral College vote, but he was less certain about finding a senator
willing to go along.
But even if a challenge is mounted and fails, it underscores the
illegitimate basis of Trump's presidency and the deep opposition to it, and
refutes the GOP's outrageous claim that it has a mandate for dismantling
government programs across the board.
"We have a list of 50 illegal electors," Clayton said. "That puts Donald
Trump below the threshold that he needs to be elected president. Let's
debate it in an open session. According to the Constitution, the Congress,
if nobody wins on the first round of balloting, picks from the top three
candidates. That will be Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Colin Powell."
Steven Rosenfeld covers national political issues for AlterNet, including
America's democracy and voting rights, campaigns and elections, and many
social justice issues. He is the author of "Count My Vote: A Citizen's Guide
to Voting" (AlterNet Books, 2008).
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
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Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [6]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[7]
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Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/least-50-trump-electors-were-illegitim
ately-seated-electoral-college-members
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/steven-rosenfeld
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code=788otalK
[4] http://americanstakeaction.com/
[5]
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/activists-urge-racist-presidential-ele
ction-results-should-not-be-certified
[6] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on At Least 50 Trump
Electors Were Illegitimately Seated as Electoral College Members
[7] http://www.alternet.org/
[8] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
