Wild Possibilities in the Electoral College

Did you know there is no federal law that requires electors to vote according to state instructions? That being the case, 29 states plus the District of Columbia have made a law called the “Faithless Elector” law. The “Faithless Elector” law binds the electors of that state to vote according to the popular vote winner in the state. Or, said another way...in states with Faithless Elector laws, the electors can’t split their votes. However, 20 states have no Faithless Elector law and electors in those states can vote however they see fit. Now granted, even in Maine and Nebraska where state law gives the electors the option of splitting their votes, they never have. So of course it follows that in states that haven’t put that legality into their laws, the electors aren’t likely to go out on a limb and split their votes. But they could. That’s the point. Most people have the idea that no states but Maine and Nebraska can split their electoral votes and it’s not true. As a matter of fact, constitutional scholars have said that the electors of all states are free agents and the “Faithless Elector” laws would not prevail over a constitutional challenge. This election being the no-holds-barred free-for-all that it is, we could see the normally staid Electoral College thrown into a giddy vote-splitting ecstasy. Let’s put this vote splitting in context. In the election in 2000, Colorado had 8 electoral votes (this time around they have 9). The final tally in 2000 was Bush-271, Gore-266, Washington DC Abstention-1. Colorado gave all eight votes to Bush. But if they had split their votes along state popular vote lines, Bush would have gotten 5 and Gore would have gotten 3. The final tally would have been Gore 269 and Bush 268. The elector in totally Democrat DC who abstained because he was pissed off that DC has no representation in Congress would no doubt have given his vote to Gore and Gore would have been our Prez. Those who hate the idea of vote splitting say that it would almost guarantee that the 270 vote requirement to win would never be met. Fine. Perhaps what we need is a total whup-ass imbroglio in Congress over the Electoral College. Because it needs to be abolished. Go electors! Vote for freedom! Split your vote!