Reason 99: Lack of Majority Nightmare:
Why do we need to defeat Donald Trump and ensure that a Democrat occupies the White House?
In the past 98 reasons, I have tried very hard to convince you to protect our democracy, our children, our elderly and our national pride and decency by not voting for Donald Trump on November 5.
While my personal preference would be for you to unite us by voting for Kamala Harris, I understand that this might be too big an ask for a lifelong Republican. The other two alternatives would be for you to vote for a third-party candidate or to not vote for president at all. I urge you not to vote for a third-party candidate. Why?
Voting for Jill Stein or Robert Kennedy Jr. might look like a benign choice, but it also has the potential to give Trump electoral votes by subtracting from Harris.
There is a second and more ominous possibility. This promises to be a close election. Our Constitution contains a provision that, under unusual circumstances, can take away the election of the president by the electors chosen by state voters and turn the vote over to the House of Representatives. This is precisely what Donald Trump and his co-conspirators tried to do on January 6, 2021. What? How is that possible.
In 1804, the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution changed how the President and Vice-President are elected. The relevant section mandates that…
“The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;”
This is the part of the election that Trump’s lawyer’s conspiracy and insurrection mob tried and failed to stop, during the January 6, 2021 Capitol invasion.
“The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed”
That’s what happened in 2021. Biden had a substantial majority of electoral votes. That’s what typically always happens. But what if there is no majority?
“and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. “ (i.e. on January 6)
That is the nightmare scenario. A Republican House of Representatives could elect Trump, even though he had a minority of electoral votes and less votes than Kamala Harris! The math could go something like this. There are 538 electoral votes; 270 constitutes a majority.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Electoral_College
Two states, Nebraska and Maine allow split state electoral votes. All other states give all votes to the candidate with the highest number of election votes in the state. Let’s imagine that two districts in Nebraska and one in Maine vote for third party candidates. Kamala Harris has 269 electoral votes and Donald Trump has 266. Is Harris president? No. The House of Representatives has a roll call vote for president. How?
“in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. ”
Another scenario would repeat what fake electors tried to do in 2021 i.e. get the House to reject a genuine slate of electors and throw the election to the House.
How would such a “contingent election” be held in the House? No one knows. There has not been a tied election since 1800. That is why the 12th Amendment was passed. Could a state won by one candidate switch and vote for the other candidate in the House election? The Constitution appears to say yes.
This gives a major advantage to Republicans who hold Congressional majorities in 26 states, precisely the number needed to elect a president.
What if the House fails to cast 26 majority votes for one of the top three candidates? Then the Vice-President (elected in the Senate by simple majority of states), `i.e either Walz or Vance, becomes president under the 20th Amendment. If the Senate also deadlocks, then Speaker of the House Johnson becomes president.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/04/politics/tie-presidential-election-what-matters/index.html
Like I said at the beginning, a highly unlikely but nightmarish scenario, particularly in the situation with a political party where a large number of Congressmen still insist that Donald Trump won the last election. Would Elise Stefanic, Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz do the right thing? Fat chance.
Bottom line, if you want to put an end to the Trump nightmare decade, please don’t take the risk of voting for third party candidates. Vote for Kamala Harris or don’t cast a vote for President at all.
Please share this message with your friends and please, add your thoughts, to expand upon what are only brief sketches here.
To date, I have written 99 Reasons NOT to vote for Donald Trump . They are archived at my Facebook page
“100 Reasons NOT to vote for Donald Trump”.
Please visit the page and share the URL with your friends and colleagues.
Please click on the URL link below.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565843924438
You will be prompted in an on-screen box to “See More on Facebook”.
You can view the page even If you are not a registered Facebook user. Simply click on the X in the upper right corner of the pop up box and you will be able to view the site and all of its contents.
Because some have problems with Facebook, I have also opened a web page at
https://www.TRUMP100TIMESNO.COM
And started to add the 100 reasons there. It is a work in progress.
Why have I committed to posting 100 Reasons NOT to vote for Donald Trump? Because I do not have time to post 10,000.
Fred Grannis
October 22, 2024