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What Congress does have is that tangled 809-word statute passed in 1887 as part of the Electoral Count Act. The statute is intended to resolve disputes when a single state submits two different Electoral College vote counts—for instance, if there’s a contested county and its votes are enough to swing the state—and the Senate and House then split over which of the two counts to accept. With language so convoluted it was deemed “unintelligible” by the nation’s leading political scientist at the time of enactment, the law leaves debatable exactly what’s supposed to happen in this situation. Passed as a stopgap measure, it has never been replaced with a clearer or more executable plan. A key provision of the act says that if the House and Senate are split, the governor of the state in dispute becomes the tiebreaker. This provision, still with us, presents two problems. First is the possibility of a serious conflict of interest for the governor. For instance, in 2000, Florida Governor Jeb Bush might have been tasked with deciding the election that his brother George went on to win. (That eyebrow-raising scenario did not come to pass because the Supreme Court decided Bush v. Gore before the Electoral College meeting in Florida that year, so Florida sent only one set of Electoral College votes to Congress after Al Gore conceded defeat.) This year, if Ohio turns out to be the pivotal state, as is certainly plausible, Governor Kasich might be in a position to pick the winner single-handedly. This would be strange enough if he’s just a former contender in the race, and stranger still if he is the GOP’s presidential or vice-presidential candidate. Read more: www.politico.com... Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook
One hundred-thirty years later, that stopgap law still stands—which means that in 2016 we could find ourselves in a crisis not unlike in the Hayes-Tilden election. Electoral College votes might be contested in a crucial state, and the two chambers might be deadlocked. Or, even if the Supreme Court intervened and came to a non-tie decision, the candidate who loses at the court might refuse to concede, and the dispute would again fall to Congress, which might well split over how to count the state. We all would be at the mercy of the 1887 Electoral Count Act again—and then what happens? How would the governor of the state in question decide? Would Congress affirm that governor’s verdict, or might hardliners in either party put up a fight? If he were challenged by hardliners in his own party, would Speaker Paul Ryan override their demands? Would we really want to put Ryan—and the nation—to this test? Read more: www.politico.com... Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook
The odds of the Kasich-as-decider scenario might be low, but the point is that it could happen. Prudence dictates taking no chances and using the remaining months before November to adopt an actually workable Electoral Count Act. This year’s presidential election already has been unpredictable in so many ways, and we still have a long way to go. Who’s to say 2016 won’t be another 1876? Read more: www.politico.com... Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook[/ex
edit on 9242016242016-03-20T16:11:24-05:0020160pm240411 by Boscowashisnamo because: none given.edit on 9452016572016-03-20T16:40:57-05:0020160pm570440 by Boscowashisnamo because: wording.