BREAKING: Based on polls and early voting returns, Trump sues to stop VOTING AND THE COUNT in Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Arizona and Nevada. "Enough is enough. People have been voting for weeks. Lots of fraud. Stop the vote fraud, count it now and let's Make America Great Again" the President tweeted at 3:42 AM.
The twelfth amendment sets out how we elect a president. It creates sets rules for the electoral college. And if no candidate has a majority of 270 of the electors, then it gets interesting:
...[A]nd if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice...
Now here's the rub: When the election returns to the House, each state has a single vote, with a majority of states required to elect a president. While there are more democrats than republicans in Congress, there are more votes to move a majority of the states to vote Republican. Think of it like this. Assume there are three States. NY with 100 Democratic congress-people and six Republicans; New Jersey with Five Republicans and two democratic congress-people; and Maine, with Five Republican and two Democratic congress-people. So while there are 104 Democratic congress-people in our small congress, versus sixteen Republican Congress-people, two of the three States would vote Republican and the Republican Nominee would win.
In our electoral map no candidate has a majority of 271 electors when election day is over. Lawsuits will be filed to stop the count. We will address this further tomorrow.
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