[EL] Does 269-269 worsen the faithless elector problem?

[Derek Muller]

Dear all,


Perhaps one of you knows the answer to this problem. If the electoral vote
is tied at 269, the race is thrown to the House of Representatives, where,
it is assumed, Mitt Romney would win.


But, I imagine that there would be a significant amount of canvassing of
Mr. Romney's electors by Barack Obama's team in an attempt to win over just
one of those electors and break the tie. After all, we would likely know
most of the electors shortly after November 6, but the electors would not
cast ballots until December 17.


Additionally, the contingent election in the 12th Amendment allows for the
top three electoral vote-getters to be voted on in the House. If it's
269-269, isn't there a great incentive for, say, one of Mr. Obama's
electors to vote for Jill Stein, or one of Mr. Romney's electors to vote
for Gary Johnson or Ron Paul? Then, we might have an even more absurd
contingent election: 269 electoral votes for Mr. Obama; 268 electoral votes
for Mitt Romney; 1 vote for Ron Paul; top three thrown into the House.
(Which adds an additional problem: what if there are several candidates who
each receive a single castaway electoral vote? Who wins the coveted third
slot before the House if Ms. Stein, Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Paul all receive 1
electoral vote?)


Best,


Derek


Derek T. Muller

Associate Professor of Law

Pepperdine University School of Law

24255 Pacific Coast Hwy.

Malibu, CA 90263

+1 310-506-7058

SSRN Author Page: http://ssrn.com/author=464341
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20121025/3516a2dd/attachment.html>