In the recent election over 74,000,000 cast their vote for the eventual and apparent victors, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Also, we are aware that in excess of 70,000,000 Americans cast their vote for Donald Trump and Mike Pence. Even though the Biden/Harris ticket received over 4,000,000 more votes than their opponents, that, alone, did not assure their selection as the winners. The bigger issue in the presidential election are the number of electoral votes ascribed to each of the states. It is common knowledge that the magic number to win the election is 270 electoral votes and the Biden/Harris ticket exceeded this number. As of this writing, the exact number is still uncertain as a few states have not concluded the counting of all ballots cast in their respective state. With very few exceptions throughout the history of this country, the ticket which receives the most popular votes in a state receives the corresponding electoral votes for that state. As we are aware, the loosing ticket in this election has been fanning the fires of discontent and expressing dismay in the outcome of the people’s choice. Fraud by various descriptions has been alleged, but up to this point unfounded. A myriad of lawsuits have been filed, yet none have been found to be valid. There has not been any evidence presented to substantiate these claims. The purpose of this brief summary of the current situation is simply to provide a backdrop for further discussion.
As noted, the electoral votes are determined by the popular vote and the legislature in each state must certify the electors which they send to the Congress. Through the history of our nation, this has been a procedural exercise with little to no drama or problems. There is but one exception. In 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes was the Republican candidate and Samuel Tilden was the Democratic candidate. In the election Tilden received 4,300,000 votes to Hayes 4,036,000 and it appeared as if Tilden had won, but controversy reared its ugly head. There were contested electoral votes in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida. To resolve the dispute, in January of 1877 Congress established an Electoral Commission. The commission consisted of eight Republicans and seven Democrats. The vote of the commission members was eight votes for Hayes and seven for Tilden. The final electoral vote was 185 for Hayes to 184 for Tilden and that is how the nineteenth president of the United States was selected. In addition to the efforts being taken by the Trump administration and his allies through the courts, there is also an attempt to influence Republican state legislatures in selective states, that Trump lost, to submit two sets of electors. One set for the winner of the state, Biden, and one for Trump. Congress would be the final arbitrator as was the case in 1876. Let us hope beyond all hope that this does not occur.
There is no acceptable evidence that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did not win the popular vote in states that gave them the requisite electoral votes. I have maintained for most of my adult life that the Electoral College is a vestige of a bygone era. It did serve a purpose in the developing years of this country, but, I believe, it has served its usefulness and run its course. To the best of my knowledge, the United States is the only country that uses this system to elect the president and vice president. Further, at all other levels of government it is the majority vote that selects the winner. Indeed, I am aware that small states with less population would be affected but look at the underrepresentation in the senate as an example of the power that small states wield in this legislative body. Each state has two senators; therefore, the senators from South Dakota have as much legislative influence as the senators from New York. Numerically, there are more of the lesser populated states than those with larger populations, but the representation in the senate is the same. Is this equitable? It is time to step back and, objectively, evaluate the purpose and function of the electoral college system. To be thrust into a situation like the country went through back in 1877 would be devastating to our constitutional system of government and our representative democracy.
A final note is the failure of the administrator of the General Services Administration, Emily Murphy, to authorize the transition to take place. Ms. Murphy was appointed to her position by the president and obviously has some measure of allegiance to him. A function of her position is that she must ascertain the winner of the election by signing a letter to that effect which allows for the transition between the parties to occur. The delay in authorizing the transition has serious implications for national security, but also can impact the distribution of vaccines, once they are available, to combat the coronavirus. In a recent opinion piece by Dana Milbank in the Washington Post, he quoted the director of the center for public policy at the University of Virginia who stated that national security transitions are complicated and dangerous. The director goes on to state: “It’s no coincidence that the Bay of Pigs in 1961, Black Hawk Down in 1993 and the 9/11 attacks all came during the first year of presidential terms”. I am hopeful that the president will come to realize the absolute importance and necessity of sanctioning the transition to occur in a timely and orderly fashion