I do not know the legally correct answer to this question. I'm not sure who does. Congress and, likely, the SCOTUS will have to provide an answer.Posted by iota (here)
this has happened, the Las Vegas Sun reported today:Posted by Satori (here)
As I have been discussing in this thread and elsewhere on the Forum, today is the day that things will start to shape up for the showdown in Congress on 1/6/2021 when the Senate and the House meet to open and count the electoral votes from the 50 states and DC.
So far the GOP electors from Nevada have casts their votes for Trump. No doubt, the Democrat electors will cast their votes for Biden.
11:55 a.m.
Nevada’s six Democratic presidential electors have awarded their votes for Joe Biden, becoming the first slate of electors from a battleground state to cast their vote.
my understanding is, that despite the fact that Nevada GOP gave Live Conference in which they selected Electors for Trump, they were NOT sent, same as PA
so my question is, does that negate:
being that they were selected, but not sent?Having electors' votes split in a state between two candidates provides additional and firm basis for a disagreement in Congress on the vote count from those states.
Here is what I see as possible (or probable to some degree or other) scenarios that the contested election states may take (It's a logic tree so bear with me) in regard to sending the electoral votes to Congress:
1. In a state where the majority of the counted popular votes were purportedly for Biden, and the GOP electors cast their votes for Trump and not Biden, but these GOP votes are not included among the electoral votes the state sends to Congress, but rather, only the electors' votes for Biden are sent, then the total electoral votes from any such state may be deemed to be less than the electors of such state, thereby having a bearing on the number of votes needed by a candidate to obtain a majority of electoral votes, or,
2. In a state where the majority of the counted popular votes were purportedly for Biden, and the GOP electors cast their votes for Trump and not Biden, such state treats the GOP electors' votes for Trump as if they were votes for Biden and such state then assigns all electoral votes to Biden, thereby casting all electoral votes of such state for Biden, and disregarding the votes for Trump, or,
3 In a state where the majority of the counted popular votes were purportedly for Biden, and the GOP electors cast their votes for Trump and not Biden and the Democrat electors cast their votes for Biden, such state sends both the GOP and Democrat electoral votes to Congress, and Congress has two sets of competing electoral votes, or,
4 In a state where the majority of the counted popular votes were purportedly for Biden, and the GOP electors cast their votes for Trump and not Biden and the Democrat electors cast their votes for Biden, such state only sends the Democrat electoral votes to Congress and not the GOP votes, and Congress has no competing electoral votes from any such state to consider.
There may be other scenarios I am overlooking.
I think scenario 1 is not probable and that scenario 3 is the most probable. That is, in the contested states, both the GOP and the Democrat elector votes are to be sent to Congress by the Secretary of State. Using New Mexico as an example, which has 5 electoral votes (as I understand it NM's GOP electors are casting their votes for Trump, not Biden), that would mean that NM 's Secretary of State should send Congress 5 elector votes from the GOP and 5 elector votes from the Dems. Congress will then have to open and "adjudicate" those votes in 1/6/2021.
What happens, however, if one or more of these contested states only sends Congress the Dem electoral votes and refuses to send the GOP votes? This is scenario 4 (and a bit like scenario 2). On its face, Congress would not have competing votes from any such state. Can the GOP electors send their votes to Congress independently of the Secretary of State?
The point I'm trying to make is that there is going to be a showdown in Congress and likely in the SCOTUS under some configuration of facts and legal issues.
As I write this MSM is declaring Biden the winner because he has 270 and more electoral votes. As a matter of law, Biden is not the president elect. The process under Art. II, Sec. I and the 12th amend. and the Electoral Count Act has not run its course.
It is Congress that elects or "chooses" the Present and VP. That does not happen at the earliest until 1/6/2021. Depending on what happens there, the election may go to the SCOTUS.