Once the electoral college has met and each state’s election has been confirmed, there is no constitutional provision for an “alternate list” of voters. A group of people who gather in a room and claim they are voters, as State-backed Republicans did in some states on Monday, have no more authority than when the people reading this article decide that they too wanted to be members of the electoral college.
While Republicans in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and Michigan followed White House leadership and took steps or debated to form their own competing slates of pro-Trump voters, it was a theatrical effort with no legal path. Electoral college voting plans are tied to the referendum winner in each state, and all five states have confirmed their results in favor of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.
The best Republicans could do was take a token moment and say that the people who showed up would be the voters if Mr Trump had won those states. But since he lost them, and numerous state and federal courts have dismissed his and his allies’ unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud, these groups have no real meaning.
Mr Trump’s supporters have also noted a superficial ambiguity in the Constitution and federal law as to whether a state assembly could appoint its own electoral roll.
Since the Electoral Count Act came into effect in 1887, a situation resembling “voter dueling” has only occurred once when Hawaii underwent a close recount in 1960. The governor of Hawaii signed a Republican electoral roll for Richard M. Nixon before the recount was completed; When it was done and John F. Kennedy showed ahead, the governor had to send a new Democratic plaque to Congress. The democratic plan was adopted.
The constitution provides that states select their voters “as the legislature prescribes”. In modern times, states have done this by holding popular elections that determine who their voters will be cast to. Various constitutional rights and laws would prevent the state’s legislation from changing the rules and subsequently overriding the will of the people in order to achieve a different result.
Regardless, no lawmaker has seriously looked into whether the results can be turned on its head, despite Trump pleading with Republican heads of state.
It is up to Congress to accept the results of the Electoral College, which will take place on January 6th. Even if a state lawmaker were to send ballots to Congress from its self-appointed electoral roll, many legal scholars have stated that Congress should give this preference to the board sent by the governor.
In any case, both chambers would have to agree to block the pro-Biden voters. It is inconceivable that the Democrats who control the House of Representatives would consider such a Republican move.
While some Trump loyalists in the House, like Alabama Representative Mo Brooks, claimed they were trying to question the results, many Republican senators admitted Monday that Mr Biden had been re-elected president. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell seemed to rule out any possibility that he would give way to a challenge when he congratulated Mr. Biden from the Senate on Tuesday.
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