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The ELECTORS must DO THEIR JOBS -- or we must ABOLISH the Electoral College - PERIOD. (Original Post) CousinIT Dec 2016 OP
One can only hope onecaliberal Dec 2016 #1
My thoughts exactly. If they are just rubber stampers. We dont need them. boston bean Dec 2016 #2
"We" can't abolish the Electoral College. The Velveteen Ocelot Dec 2016 #3
The thing that I haven't been able to find out... potone Dec 2016 #4
Based on a couple replies I got from two of them in TX, they're brain-dead, snot-nosed partisans. CousinIT Dec 2016 #7
Besides the part about them not agreeing with you to change their votes forthemiddle Dec 2016 #18
Each state has different rules... TreasonousBastard Dec 2016 #9
Whether they are required to take an oath and what it says is up to each state onenote Dec 2016 #11
Thank you for your reply. potone Dec 2016 #12
If they do their job in this instance, I'd be for keeping it. roamer65 Dec 2016 #5
If I were a Republican elector, I would "abstain" from picking anyone in this election? kentuck Dec 2016 #6
Any thoughts on obtaining the Constitutional Amendment it would take? Hekate Dec 2016 #8
Well democrats have 6 states that have all 3 state houses and governor yeoman6987 Dec 2016 #10
Without a Constitutional Convention, which has never happened, this is the process. WillowTree Dec 2016 #13
Pretty much what I thought. I just wanted someone else to state the case.... Hekate Dec 2016 #14
Between people "demanding" that Congress do things that would instead....... WillowTree Dec 2016 #15
The ones that really jolt me are demands for Obama to declare martial law, call up the Guards.... Hekate Dec 2016 #16
That, too. OMG!! WillowTree Dec 2016 #17

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,280 posts)
3. "We" can't abolish the Electoral College.
Mon Dec 12, 2016, 11:19 PM
Dec 2016

It has to be done by Constitutional amendment, which is about as likely to happen as a performance of the Ice Capades in Hell.

potone

(1,701 posts)
4. The thing that I haven't been able to find out...
Mon Dec 12, 2016, 11:23 PM
Dec 2016

and I went to the official web page of the Electoral College, is exactly what instructions that the Electors are given, and what oath, if any, they take before casting their votes. I would feel a lot better (well, OK, a little better) if I knew that they were informed about the purpose of the Electoral College and that they are not just there to rubber-stamp the results from their states.

Can anyone enlighten me about this? Thanks in advance!

forthemiddle

(1,373 posts)
18. Besides the part about them not agreeing with you to change their votes
Tue Dec 13, 2016, 06:51 AM
Dec 2016

How are they "brain-dead, snot-nosed partisans"?

They both put out factual information on the electoral college, and politely declined to change their votes.
Would you change your vote if you were a Clinton elector?

Face it, they are selected by the State party because they are loyal Republicans, just as on our side. You have to be a party loyalist for that reason.

TreasonousBastard

(43,049 posts)
9. Each state has different rules...
Mon Dec 12, 2016, 11:43 PM
Dec 2016

Some require the electors to vote as a bloc, a few don't. Some have penalties for not voting "as proscribed".

There is nothing in the Constitution describing how the Electors are to do their job, just that they are to do it.

onenote

(42,383 posts)
11. Whether they are required to take an oath and what it says is up to each state
Tue Dec 13, 2016, 12:14 AM
Dec 2016

The election of the President is a state-centric process. When you vote for a presidential candidate you are actually voting for a specific slate of electors selected by the party of that candidate.

There is not constitutionally mandated oath or any other specific standard that an elector is required to follow. (The Federalist Papers are an aid to interpreting the Constitution but they are not a substitute for the Constitution itself).

In Maryland, electors are required to take the same oath to support the US Constitution and the State of Maryland that any other public official is required to take. In Virginia, the only oath that an elector is required to take is a pledge, signed before the election takes place, that the elector will cast his/her vote for the candidate of his/her party if that candidate wins the popular vote in the state. That pledge is enforceable to a limited extent -- a person who won't sign the pledge can be excluded from consideration as an elector before the election takes place. Whether the pledge could be enforced after the election is a much more dubious question.

In the end there probably is nothing that anyone can do to force an elector to vote a particular way, or not vote a particular way.

potone

(1,701 posts)
12. Thank you for your reply.
Tue Dec 13, 2016, 01:15 AM
Dec 2016

That explains why I could not find an oath on the web site, although I did read a reply from an elector to a letter from someone asking the elector not to vote for Trump. That elector's reply stated that there was an oath that the electors had to take..I misinterpreted that to mean that all electors had to take the same oath. I guess I should not be surprised that since elections are conducted by states, that there is no federal oath that electors must take. But what a mess!

roamer65

(36,739 posts)
5. If they do their job in this instance, I'd be for keeping it.
Mon Dec 12, 2016, 11:27 PM
Dec 2016

Just maybe we will see why the founding fathers created it.

kentuck

(110,950 posts)
6. If I were a Republican elector, I would "abstain" from picking anyone in this election?
Mon Dec 12, 2016, 11:28 PM
Dec 2016

What more could you expect a Republican to do?

 

yeoman6987

(14,449 posts)
10. Well democrats have 6 states that have all 3 state houses and governor
Tue Dec 13, 2016, 12:01 AM
Dec 2016

12 have at least 1 statehouse and governor. 3 have no statehouses but has the governor. Repugs have 31 governors with 19 state houses and the rest a variety of at least one statehouse. The only way to get a constitutional amendment would be to flip a ton of races in the next couple of elections or convince a ton of repugs this is good for the country.

WillowTree

(5,325 posts)
13. Without a Constitutional Convention, which has never happened, this is the process.
Tue Dec 13, 2016, 01:30 AM
Dec 2016

First the amendment would have to pass both houses of Congress by a two-thirds margin. After that, it would have to be ratified by three-quarters of the states.

In other words, a whole bunch of the states that benefit most from the Electoral College would have to agree to abolish it. Not likely any time soon.

Hekate

(90,202 posts)
14. Pretty much what I thought. I just wanted someone else to state the case....
Tue Dec 13, 2016, 01:47 AM
Dec 2016

There have been a ton of posts demanding this and and averring that, nearly all of them betraying a complete ignorance of how we might actually achieve the goal of getting rid of this broken relic of another time. It's not going to be easy -- in fact it will be well-nigh impossible.

WillowTree

(5,325 posts)
15. Between people "demanding" that Congress do things that would instead.......
Tue Dec 13, 2016, 01:53 AM
Dec 2016

.......require constitutional amendments and others "demanding" that the USSC step in and throw out the election results and require a "do-over", I'm seriously shocked at how many voting adults have no earthly idea what our Constitution does and doesn't say/allow or how our government works.

Hekate

(90,202 posts)
16. The ones that really jolt me are demands for Obama to declare martial law, call up the Guards....
Tue Dec 13, 2016, 02:19 AM
Dec 2016

In other words, do things like Donald Trump would try to do.

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