07/07/2020
Why is the Supreme Court's ruling a big deal as it relates to Presidential Elections. Here is a clear explanation of the significance of today's ruling from Judge Tracie Hunter:
Today’s ruling by the United States Supreme Court, like all of its rulings, is a big deal. This case arose after some electors decided to vote contrary to law. SCOTUS decided to hear the case to determine whether, going forward, electors will have the freedom to choose whom to cast their electoral vote for or must give all of their votes to the person who wins that state. Today's ruling upholds the power of the Electoral College and forces electors to vote for the person who receives the majority vote. Electors may NOT cast their ballots independently. The majority winner in each state will continue to get ALL of the electors' votes from that state.
Most people know by now that it is not the popular vote, but the Electoral College that actually determines both the presidency and vice-presidency of the United States. In fact, there have been a couple of elections in recent years, where the Democratic nominee won the popular vote, but the Electoral College elected the Republican. For instance, Al Gore won the popular vote, but George Bush won the election, due to the Electoral College. Similarly, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, but Donald Trump won the presidency, due to the Electoral College.
The Electoral College is made up of delegates or Electors from each state, supposedly proportioned based on the population of each state. Each state determines how those electors are chosen; and those electors cast their votes, typically for whichever candidate receives the majority of the popular vote.
Most states mandate that ALL of the electors in that state must cast their votes for the candidate who receives the majority of votes. Therefore, they receive all of the electoral votes in that state. Those electors by law did not have the freedom of choice to vote against the popular vote, even if they dissented. In recent years, some of the delegates digressed and did not vote with the popular vote, but voted their choice or not at all because many people want to get rid of the Electoral College.
Sadly, the Electoral College was created in part, some historians believe, to circumvent the true will of the people and to provide a way for slave-holding states to count their slaves as 3/5 humans for the purpose of determining the number of votes they get in the Electoral College, which allowed slave-holding states to control the presidency. Today, SCOTUS confirmed a system that allows the Electoral College to continue to choose the president and vice president, even if the popular vote, which is the actual vote of the people, goes against the Electoral College, which requires 270 electoral votes out of the 538 electoral votes cast to win the election. It would take a 2/3 vote of Congress, then ratified by ¾ of the states to eradicate the Electoral College and Amend the United States Constitution.
The ruling, just under four months before the 2020 election, leaves in place laws in 32 states and the District of Columbia that bind their share of the 538 electors to vote for the state…