Quote:
Originally Posted by spooph
Ah, so the popular vote chooses which set of electors' ballots to count toward the presidential vote.
huh, what do you know, our votes actually do count...
Great info, thanks a bunch!
So, in order to get a third party candidate elected, the third party has to be big enough, in enough states to have the electors they chose at their national convention go to the presidential vote. Did I get it right?
Unless of course neither R or D candidate can get 51% of the votes (270), in which case it goes that the whole House of Rep. process.
The things you learn on ninjette... I love this site!
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Pretty much you got that right, although I don't know if the list of electors is finalized at their respective parties convention.
On the 270 number and all of congress (House and Senate)... I also believe you got that right as well. However, from what I understand "congress can save us from ourselves" and intervene in the electoral process and vote themselves. Or... if there is a contested/objected electoral vote(s), congress is the deciding factor either by resolving the contest/objection or by taking the vote in their own hands.
An example of this was when Al Gore ran and demanded a recount in FL. Since he was a member of congress, all he needed was another to sign the paperwork with him to contest the count for the ENTIRE state of FL's electoral votes. Since FL requires (by state law) ALL electoral votes go to the popular vote candidate, a recount contest was filed. It was up to congress to proceed with the recount or call it as it stood.