What's the worst that could happen?
July 6, 2017 4:39 PM   Subscribe

Can Trump/GOP use the Election Integrity Commission as a way of invalidating or challenging the legitimacy of election results of entire states or parts of states?

I get that voter suppression is kind of the whole point of the Election Integrity Commission, right? but I am always hearing that applied to individual voters, not entire states or localities. Could the Trump administration use the results of the investigation to say things like:

"State X didn't cooperate with our voter data request but we believe substantial fraud exists (so evidence of guilt). Therefore, their election results just don't/shouldn't count at all. They don't receive electoral college votes and/or incumbent elected officials remain in office until the issue is resolved" or

"We have evidence that very widespread fraud exists in Blue City Y and they have refused to take sufficient actions to fix this, therefore, any votes they cast in future elections are invalid and must be thrown out."

Could this actually happen? How would this happen? Again, not asking about voter suppression of individuals but more wholesale suppression based on geography and potential alleged fraud. I apologize in advance if this is too hypothetical or has a really obvious "this could never, ever happen because of blank" (I'm hoping!) but I just wasn't sure. This would certainly help me sleep better. Or never, ever sleep again, depending on the answers.
posted by eeek to Law & Government (4 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: None of this could happen, as it would theoretically require an act of Congress, but such act would be immediately unconstitutional because the U.S. Constitution mandates that all elections are state-run, and basically guarantees all Electors' votes count (there's also relevant code to how this happens). Even the Help America Vote Act (2002) had to set up voluntary standards for states to follow.
posted by General Malaise at 5:04 PM on July 6, 2017 [4 favorites]


Also, N.B., nothing the so-called EIC could do could affect individual voters either.
posted by General Malaise at 5:04 PM on July 6, 2017


I should also note that it's theoretically possible for Congress to contest Electoral College votes, but it's...well, barely remararkable. Here's the explanation from the National Archives:

Can electoral votes be contested when Congress counts the votes in January?
Under federal law an objection to a state’s Electoral votes may be made to the President of the Senate during Congress’s counting of Electoral votes in January. The objection must be made in writing and signed by at least one Senator and one member of the House of Representatives. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives debate the objection separately. Debate is limited to two hours. After the debate, both the Senate and the House of Representatives rejoin and both must agree to reject the votes.

In January 2005, Ohio’s 20 Electoral votes were challenged. After debate, the Senate and the House failed to agree to reject the votes. Ohio’s 20 Electoral votes for President Bush and Vice President Cheney were counted.
posted by General Malaise at 5:11 PM on July 6, 2017


The worst case is pretty actually pretty bad now that I think about it.

It is true that the commission itself cannot overturn elections. But if they could contribute to a situation where two sets of representatives show up in Washington from certain contested districts--say, by asserting"irregularities" and saying precincts or localities shouldn't count because they are so unreliable and "supporting" local officials--then you go to Article I, Section V: "Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members."

The majority party in Congress ignoring the state government would be a naked and transparent power grab but courts might not intervene given the clear language, or would intervene cautiously and slowly. I think this would deserve the term "Constitutional crisis."
posted by mark k at 9:25 PM on July 6, 2017 [1 favorite]


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