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DG3: WHAT DOES THE 2020 ELECTION TEACH US ABOUT THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE?

  • Thursday, December 17, 2020
  • 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
  • Virtual

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WHAT DOES THE 2020 ELECTION TEACH US ABOUT THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE?


At the time of writing of this topic description (November 29, 2020), it is clear that Joe Biden has won more than 6 million popular votes over President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election as well as 306 electoral votes (he needs only 270). The Electoral College will meet in the respective states on December 14, and a joint session of Congress will meet to determine the winner on January 6, 2021. The new president will be inaugurated on January 20.

Although Biden appears headed for a victory in both the popular and electoral vote, he has been subjected to an unprecedented attack, fueled by totally unsubstantiated allegations of massive voter fraud, by Trump and his allies. Republican voting officials, legislators, and judges—along with Democratic governors, secretaries of state, and judges—have rejected Trump’s wild charges. But Trumpian procedural machinations and verbal attacks on the process have cast severe doubt as to the legitimacy of the election in the minds of many people. And an attempted coup d'état by Trump and his armed supporters (possibly aided by elements of the military or other security forces) is not totally out of the question.

Would such a baseless assault on election results have been possible if presidential elections were decided by popular vote rather than the Electoral College? Are there unique characteristics of the Electoral College system that make such attacks more possible and more dangerous? If popular vote is to replace the Electoral College, what would/should be the mechanisms by which fraud claims and recounts are adjudicated? These and other such questions will be discussed in this session.

Some references (not required reading):

“Trump claims Biden must prove votes weren’t ‘illegally obtained’ in order to enter the White House,” Fox News, November 28, 2020: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-biden-illegally-obtained-white-house

“Pennsylvania high court tosses lawmaker’s petition to halt election certification,” Politico, November 28, 2020: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/28/pennsylvania-gop-petition-election-certification-440928; the order and opinion of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is at http://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Supreme/out/68%20MAP%202020%20Per%20Curiam%20Order.pdf?cb=2 

“ ‘Voters, not lawyers, choose the president’: [Federal] appeals court shoots down Trump suit in Pennsylvania,” Politico, November 27, 2020: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/27/appeals-court-trump-campaign-pennsylvania-440813; the opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is at https://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/203371np.pdf 

Alan E. Johnson, “The Electoral College: Time for a Change?,” June 7, 2018: https://www.academia.edu/36794027/The_Electoral_College_Time_for_a_Change


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