Article I Section 4 of the US Constitution:
https://constitutionallawreporter.co...01-section-04/
Text of Article 1, Section 4:
Quote:
|
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.
|
I read that to mean:
Each state can pass its own laws prescribing the times, places, and manner of holding its own elections.
But the Federal Government also has power to pass federal law overriding state law.
I find it interesting that the US Constitution specifically grants power over state elections to individual state
legislatures (not individual state officials such as governors, attorney generals, etc.)
That, in itself, could get interesting in the event the US Supreme Court decides to hear the Trump administration's case challenging election results in Pennsylvania.
Under current Pennsylvania state law: cutoff for casting of ballots in Pennsylvania is close of polls on election day.
BUT, and to me this is where it
really gets interesting --
Under
The Twelfth Amendment, individual state electors aren't necessarily bound to cast their electoral college votes for the winner of the popular vote in their states.
Which leads me to post the following
'what if' scenario:
What if the Trump administration is successful with court challenges? What if Trump gets enough ballots thrown out that he is declared the winner of (enough) elections in key battleground states that he reaches 270?
Given the current environment, would state electors of those key battleground states decide to give Trump the middle finger by casting their electoral college votes for Biden and Harris?
-jp
.
