What exactly does it mean to be a pledged elector (AIUI different states have different degrees of enforcement, but it's not clear to me who can, except in the case of the nominee actually dying, release them from it)
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Replying to @Random832 @boltmeyer
Yeah the definition of a pledged elector is you're a party operative -- officially an elected official of the party, you "run for election" on the actual ballot regular people get in November -- and you sign a contract to vote for who the party tells you to
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The way the pledges are constructed there is no way to ever be "released from your pledge" and no circumstance under which the party tells you it's okay to just use your own judgment Both parties specifically tell you if the nominee dies they'll tell you who the new one is
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Replying to @arthur_affect @boltmeyer
Er, whether it's a 'release' or a substitution, my question was *does the party have that authority*? Is the party, in fact, the er, counterparty to the pledge, rather than the state?
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[and in that case what happens to electors who insist on voting for Trump anyway?]
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Replying to @Random832 @boltmeyer
Oh yeah that's a bigger and deeper question, about faithless electors generally, that hits right at the core of our constitutional order It's like asking what happens if the Queen decides to dismiss Parliament and say she's going to start ruling the country directly again
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Replying to @arthur_affect @boltmeyer
I guess the situation is pretty unlikely anyway, requiring: - As of December 14, Trump is alive but incapacitated - there is real division within the Republican party on whether he should be put in anyway - Trump (or, rather, Republican electors) win the election
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Replying to @Random832 @boltmeyer
The RNC would be required to convene a vote among their members over who the replacement should be, and the electors would be pledged to whoever won that vote
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If the RNC were unable to establish a quorum or their vote somehow deadlocked (I don't know exactly how it works) before December 14 then yeah I guess that would constitute a genuine constitutional crisis
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Replying to @arthur_affect @boltmeyer
You know, another weird loophole in the law just occurred to me You know how some states have ballots that include a major party candidate's name multiple times because they were also nominated by several minor parties? Do those votes go to the same electors?
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I think the way it works in practice is you check a box on the ballot and that box is agreed to stand for that party's slate of electors, even if the party is pledged to the same candidate
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