I thought I understood that it didn’t matter because we had electorals from dem and republicans in certain states? Some guy on YouTube is telling me that all this is a waste of our time blah blah blah. I don’t believe him for one second. But I’m not sure how to reply. He also said pence has no authority to toss out states on the 6th....id appreciate the help in replying to him
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No just some guy commenting back and forth with me about the election process and how Trump has no way of winning and pence can’t do anything about it. But all the articles I’m reading have two different arguments saying he can and can not over turn things on the 6th
So I want to try and clarify for you.
There's the Constitution and then there's federal law.
The Constitution says that the President of the Senate (Pence) opens and counts the votes. So one side of people is saying that gives Pence the power to choose which slate of electors to accept and which to refuse.
Federal law lays out a procedure for the President of the Senate to accept and count electoral votes. It gives the Senate and House the ability to object, it forces a 2 hour debate, and should the Senate and House still disagree, it goes to a state vote.
So these are the two sides you're hearing tell their different stories. The question becomes who is correct, which primarily boils down to this question: Are the Federal laws, which lay out the procedure the President of the Senate must follow, Constitutional?
The answer is NO. The legislature has NO RIGHT to tell the President of the Senate how to conduct his Constitutionally given responsibility of opening and counting the votes. It was argued time and time again, both before and even after Jefferson counted the votes in his favor, and it was made abundantly clear that if the founders had wanted the Senate or House to have control over the process of opening and counting the ballots, it would have been explicitly stated in the Constitution. They are spectators ONLY!