Once they are chosen, what do each state’s electors do?
On Dec. 15, in each state’s capitol, the state’s electors will meet to cast separate ballots for president and for vice president. Can an elector pledged to vote for a candidate cast his or her vote for someone else?Yes. But this rarely happens. Since the first election in 1789, ten electors have decided to vote for a presidential candidate other than the one to whom they were pledged. In 1948, for example, Tennessee elector Preston Parks was pledged to the Democratic candidate, Harry Truman, but instead cast his vote for States’ Rights presidential candidate Strom Thurmond. It didn’t affect the outcome of the election, as Truman won with 303 electoral votes. Can an elector be punished if he does not vote for the candidate to whom he or she is pledged? In some cases he or she could be: 25 states and the District of Columbia have laws binding electors.
On Dec. 15, in each state’s capitol, the state’s electors will meet to cast separate ballots for president and for vice president. Who counts the electoral votes to determine who won the presidency? Congress will meet in joint session on Jan. 6, 2009 to count the votes of the electors. Here’s how the Constitution puts it, “The President of the Senate (Dick Cheney) shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted.” If at least one member of the House and one member of the Senate object to any electoral votes from a state, then the House and Senate each go into separate sessions to debate and vote on the contested electoral votes. Both the House and the Senate must vote to reject the challenged electoral votes in order for them to be rejected. What if it’s discovered there was massive vote fraud or errors in a state that tipped the balance?
