Recently, Sen. Mike Lee added to his growing list of explanations for why he schemed to overturn the 2020 presidential election. According to Lee, “As we approached the end of December, there were rumors that continued to circulate suggesting that some states were going to be reallocating their electoral votes” by choosing “alternate slates of electors.” These rumors, he concluded, “weren’t true.”
But neither the Constitution, nor the Electoral Count Act of 1887 and the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court have ever recognized what, in his texts to Mark Meadows, Lee called “alternate” or “competing” slates of electors to the Electoral College.
There is only one slate of presidential electors from each state. The laws of 48 of 50 states require each political party to nominate its slate of electors before the election. The state then sends to the Electoral College the slate of the party whose presidential candidate wins the most votes. The job of the electors ends in mid-December when the Electoral College meets and elects the next president.
Because there is no such thing as “alternate slates of electors,” there were no “rumors” worthy of Lee’s valuable time to investigate. Back to you, Sen. Lee, for your next explanation.
David Burns, South Jordan
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