I am not a lawyer. I am just making some observations after studying tonight.

In Article II, Section 1 it states:

"Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector."

"The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each;** which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit** sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate."

Then the problem of dueling electors came in. What happens when a state submits two sets of electors, one for each opposing candidate? They tried to fix this in 1887 with the Electoral Count Act.

Looking up the 1887 ECA, Title 3 USC 15 says:

"...the votes of the electors whose appointment shall have been certified by the executive of the State, under the seal thereof, shall be counted."

So when there are two sets of electors from a state, in order to resolve the problem, the set that is certified by the governor is the set that is supposed to be counted.

This seems to go against Article II, Section 1 in a couple of ways.

Article II says that the Electors sign and certify. Title 3 says the **governor **certifies. In the case of dueling electors, the governor is essentially making the choice. HE chooses, HE certifies.

Now look at the definition of "proxy" according to Merriam-Webster:

"A proxy may refer to a person who is authorized to act for another or it may designate the function or authority of serving in another's stead." That seems to be the function of the governor in the case of dueling electors. To resolve the problem and decide which set of electors to count.

But here's the problem. Article II, Section I says that no person holding an Office under the United States shall be appointed an Elector. The governor himself was not originally appointed an Elector, but by having to choose which set of electors to certify he has become a proxy to the Electors by having to choose which Electors to count.

And so we have what we do today. Legislatures desperately trying to figure out how to get their power back from the governor. I'm not saying I have a solution to dueling electors, I'm just pointing out how the ECA of 1887 goes directly against Article II because it takes power away from the legislature (guaranteed to them in Article II) and gives it to the governor. So it gives one person more power than an elected body of representatives.

Thoughts appreciated:)