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The Real Possibility of MAGA Faithless Electors

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Biggersmaller

Biggersmaller

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,966
Minneapolis
For the purposes of this discussion, a "faithless elector" is very simply a member of the electoral college that does not vote for a state's winning candidate. In 2016, Clinton lost 5 electoral votes because of them and Trump lost 2. Federal Law gives states all the power to determine how electors for their state are chosen and what happens if they vote against the winning candidate. The Supreme Court recently ruled to a retain state's right to penalize unfaithful electors, however that can't prevent it from happening in the first place.

Trump has demonstrated he will do whatever it takes to retain power and how absolutely bat shit crazy the cult following MAGA freaks are. Some of these corrupt GOP idiots are likely members of the electoral college. This has the potential to be a massive problem for Biden in the coming weeks.
 
DubleDuce

DubleDuce

Member
Jan 15, 2018
568
If this were to occur, we would face the greatest crisis in our nation's history since the Civil War. The chaos and rioting would be unlike anything we've ever seen. Most of our allies would reject Trump as the head of state.

It won't happen.
 
sushimonster85

sushimonster85

Member
Oct 27, 2017
587
If Biden only ends up on 270 I think it's a genuine worry. I still believe he wins Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Nevada (maybe even Georgia), which would pretty much destroy any faithless elector ploy. One or two I could see, he isn't going to be able to get 15-20 of them.
 
Lord Fanny

Lord Fanny

Banned
Apr 25, 2020
25,953
It's a possibility if he only wins 270. At this point, it's looking like he'll break more than that. In a worst case scenario, it could happen I guess, but I kind of feel like it probably would not. While it's happened in the past, it was done in a situation when those did not matter. I'm not sure any elector would be brave enough, especially in this current climate, to do that when it did matter. But you never know. We'll have to see when/if we get there.
 

Deleted member 43

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 24, 2017
9,271
Biggersmaller said:
For the purposes of this discussion, a "faithless elector" is very simply a member of the electoral college that does not vote for a state's winning candidate. In 2016, Clinton lost 5 electoral votes because of them and Trump lost 2. Federal Law gives states all the power to determine how electors for their state are chosen and what happens if they vote against the winning candidate. The Supreme Court recently ruled to a retain state's right to penalize unfaithful electors, however that can't prevent it from happening in the first place.

Trump has demonstrated he will do whatever it takes to retain power and how absolutely bat shit crazy the cult following MAGA freaks are. Some of these corrupt GOP idiots are likely members of the electoral college. This has the potential to be a massive problem for Biden in the coming weeks.
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The winning party in a state gets to pick the electors going to the EC, so...your fears are unwarranted.
 
Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,845
Ah yes, the faithless
773000.jpg
 

KoolAid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,677
Republicans are already showing signs of dumping Trump, and Biden will likely get more than 270. It won't happen.
 
jph139

jph139

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,378
Rodrigues solitaire said:
I remember the same narrative from back in 2016 that faithless electors would vote for Hillary, it's all fucking nonsense
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Yeah, the right is going to go through the same denial period we did in 2016 - we need to do recounts! Faithless electors will save us! We just have to refuse to give up power!

None of them are going to work. It's all flailing.
 
JEH

JEH

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,216
the entire country will literally burn down if this happens
 

Zache

Unshakable Resolve
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
2,791
I thought electors are chosen by the party? If you vote for Biden you're voting for Democratic electors, if you vote for Trump you're voting for Republican electors so this is impossible without deep cover shenanigans.

More likely, but still not happening, is a BernieOrBuster falling through the cracks somehow and voting for Bernie. But that's not happening.
 
Stooge

Stooge

Member
Oct 29, 2017
11,221
This is conspiratorial fear mongering and has no basis in anything other than doom posting. I hope the mods lock this thread.
 
Dali

Dali

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,184
Rodrigues solitaire said:
I remember the same narrative from back in 2016 that faithless electors would vote for Hillary, it's all fucking nonsense
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It's not nonsense. The piece of shit in office has made clear that too much of our system is based on decency and upholding the norm. Stuff that isn't codified into law needs to be otherwise some asshole will come along and say "well it's not, not allowed" and do it.
 
RadzPrower

RadzPrower

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jan 19, 2018
6,044
Einherjer said:
Damn USA your voting system really sucks fix that shit.
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I'll agree it sucks, but it's not as blatantly bad as OP presents.

Those "faithless electors" were actually assigned by their respective parties, so it wasn't a case of "stealing" votes as much as it was "defecting" with their votes. It's messed up for sure, but it's an internal party issue rather than a means of opposition corruption.
 
The Albatross

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
39,010
Correct me if I'm wrong but those five 2016 Clinton E.C. voters who were faithless were ... testing the constitutionality of it so that they could, in their estimation, swing X number of E.C. votes away from Trump, right?
 
Mivey

Mivey

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,826
PlanetSmasher said:
The Electoral College does suck but the chances of a scenario like this are so specific and rare as to essentially be non-viable.
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the fact that it's possible, even on paper, is already utterly insane. It made sense when a bunch of slave owners wanted to ensure the little people would never directly elect someone to lead the country, but in 2020 it's just crazy that it's still practised reality.
 

Deleted member 7082

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,405
DubleDuce said:
If this were to occur, we would face the greatest crisis in our nation's history since the Civil War. The chaos and rioting would be unlike anything we've ever seen. Most of our allies would reject Trump as the head of state.

It won't happen.
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I feel like this is a pre-2016 mindset.

What likely consequences could really dissuade Trump or his cultists' from doing it if they can? Nothing.

I think it's unlikely, but I don't think fear of the outcome is the reason it's unlikely.
 
dmgdbug

dmgdbug

Member
Oct 27, 2017
654
i haven't even finished wetting my last bed yet, can you give me a second before asking about the next one?
 
Poodlestrike

Poodlestrike

Smooth vs. Crunchy
Administrator
Oct 25, 2017
13,496
Threads speculating on the myriad ways things could go wrong aren't going to do anybody any good right now.
 
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