[EL] Two thoughts on the Electoral College and National Popular Vote

Tue Nov 27 10:07:09 PST 2012

Just a random, non-specific phrase on my part. Would be interested in
knowing the breakdown myself, between "tallied but not certified" and "still
counting" states.

Sean Parnell

President

Impact Policy Management, LLC

6411 Caleb Court

Alexandria, VA  22315

571-289-1374 (c)

sean at impactpolicymanagement.com

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Renee
Christensen
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 12:53 PM
To: law-election at UCI.EDU
Subject: Re: [EL] Two thoughts on the Electoral College and National Popular
Vote

Just a comment re "17 states have completed their tallies".  Not sure if the
author is using the phrase "completed their tallies" deliberately, or mixing
up "completed their tallies" with the state's final action of certifying
election results.

Here in DC, the Board of Elections has completed the tallying of votes, is
currently doing a statutorily required pre-certification audit, with
tentative certification scheduled for Thursday.    

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Sean
Parnell
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 11:52 AM
To: law-election at UCI.EDU
Subject: [EL] Two thoughts on the Electoral College and National Popular
Vote

Two items came across my Twitter feed today (h/t to Rick for both) that I
think have some bearing on the whole National Popular Vote/Electoral Issue.

1.       Apparently only 17 states have completed their count of all
ballots, per this USA Today editorial (as a rule, I abhor citing editorials,
but I'm going to trust they got this fact right):
http://usatoday.com/story/opinion/2012/11/26/counting-votes-voting-system/17
28529/ I think the implications for National Popular Vote are pretty obvious
- had this been a closer election (say, Bush-Gore or Kennedy-Nixon close)
we'd still not know who the president was, and there would be horrific legal
battles being waged right now all across the country over which ballots
should or should not be counted. The Electoral College seems to have
provided conclusive clarity rather quickly. 

2.      Second, apparently there's a theory floating around out there that
Romney could still be elected by the House of Representatives if a number of
states voting for Romney failed to submit their electoral votes, depriving
the Electoral College of a quorum (see here:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/11/27/2360565/lawmaker-shares-last-chance
-idea.html). Absolute malarkey, to borrow from our Vice President. Still, it
does help to show the fallacy of what I call the 'English Bob
<http://www.quotefully.com/movie/Unforgiven/English+Bob> ' theory touted by
advocates of National Popular Vote, which is basically that the passage of
NPV would be so popular and accepted that there would be little thought of
challenge through the courts or legislative hanky panky. To paraphrase,
"Well there's a dignity to National Popular Vote. A majesty that precludes
the likelihood of partisan games. If you were to attempt to draft a lawsuit
or bill aimed at changing the election your hands would shake as though
palsied. I can assure you, if you did, that the popularity of NPV would
cause you to dismiss all thoughts of resistance and you would stand... how
shall I put it? In awe."

And yes, I have been waiting for a long time to unleash my English Bob
analogy.

Best,

Sean Parnell

President

Impact Policy Management, LLC

6411 Caleb Court

Alexandria, VA  22315

571-289-1374 (c)

sean at impactpolicymanagement.com

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