'Rogue governor' scenario spooks senators working to prevent stolen elections [View all]
Source: NBC News
'Rogue governor' scenario spooks senators working to prevent stolen elections
The power governors hold is of particular concern, experts and lawmakers say, given how many Trump allies who insist he won in 2020 are now candidates in crucial swing states.
May 5, 2022, 4:46 AM EDT
By Adam Edelman and Peter Nicholas
Lawmakers and experts working to prevent stolen elections are sounding the alarm about a scenario they say is both worrisome and foreseeable in 2024 should Donald Trump run: swing-state governors beholden to the former president invoking arcane powers to throw the election his way. ... Such concerns have prompted a bipartisan group of senators to explore ways to address the “rogue governor” scenario as part of their efforts to overhaul the Electoral Count Act, an 1887 law that gives governors an outsize role in determining presidential winners and losers. While lawmakers haven’t reached an agreement on amending the statute, experts warn that 2020 was a wakeup call for how the law could be exploited in ways that might prevent the rightful victor from occupying the White House.
“If the election is close and will turn on the outcome of a handful of states, there are reasons to worry about this in the climate we’re in now that partisan actors will seek to manipulate the outcome for partisan reasons, rather than adhering to the lawful outcome of the election,” said elections expert Rick Pildes, a New York University law professor. ... The power governors hold is of particular concern, experts and lawmakers say, given how many Trump allies who insist he won in 2020 are now candidates in crucial swing states. ... The risks are grounded in reality: The last presidential election illuminated how governors could be able to exploit ambiguities in the law to ensure a favored candidate succeeds.
In 2020, dozens of people from five swing states that President Joe Biden won signed documents purporting to be “duly elected and qualified" electors and declaring that Trump was the victor. (In two other states, New Mexico and Pennsylvania, the documents included caveats saying their legitimacy depended on whether Trump was ultimately found to be the winner.) ... If a governor recognized what critics call “fake” electors as legitimate, Congress would be obliged to count them under several conceivable scenarios.
That didn’t happen in 2020, largely because no governor approved a rival slate and Vice President Mike Pence, presiding over the count, refused to validate them. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot is examining how the alternate electors fit into efforts to overturn Biden’s victory. ... Without reform of the Electoral Count Act, however, governors could still pursue various avenues to subvert the popular will in a presidential race, experts said.
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Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/rogue-governor-scenario-spooks-senators-working-prevent-stolen-electio-rcna27373
Hat tip, Joe.My.God.
Senators Work To Overhaul 1887 Electoral Count Act
May 5, 2022
https://www.joemygod.com/2022/05/senators-work-to-overhaul-1887-electoral-count-act/
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