Supreme Court BANS Faithless Electors…………?

TL;DR

The 2020 Supreme Court ruling allows states to pass laws preventing faithless electors, but it doesn't ban their existence entirely.

Transcript

Hello Internet. Time for a quick update regarding everyone's favorite voting system: The Electoral College. America's… idiosyncratic method of picking her president. It's been unchanged (mostly) for centuries, but this video exists because, in July 2020, there was some Supreme Court popcorn about faithless electors, one of the most controversial ... Read More

Key Insights

• 🥳 The Electoral College system relies on electors chosen by political parties to cast votes for the president.
• 🥳 Faithless electors are those who do not vote for the party's official candidate.
• 👻 The Supreme Court ruling in 2020 allows states to pass laws preventing faithless electors.

Questions & Answers

Q: What is the Electoral College?

The Electoral College is a voting system in which electors selected by each state cast votes for president based on their state's population.

Q: Who are the electors and how do they decide their vote?

Electors are chosen in advance by political parties and are usually local party officials. They vote for the official candidate of their respective party, but they have the freedom to become faithless electors and vote differently.

Q: Why were faithless electors more common in the past?

In the past, electors had to travel to the capital and rely on in-person communication to gather information about the candidates and the political situation. This could lead them to change their vote, becoming faithless electors.

Q: Did the Supreme Court ban faithless electors?

No, the Supreme Court ruling in 2020 allows states to pass laws preventing faithless electors, but it doesn't completely ban them. States already had the power to determine how electors should vote.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The Electoral College system relies on electors who represent states and cast votes for the president. These electors are chosen by political parties.

• Faithless electors are those who do not vote for the official party candidate. This was more common in the past when electors had more time to gather information.

• The Supreme Court's 2020 ruling allows states to pass laws preventing faithless electors, but it doesn't completely ban them. 32 states already had laws against faithless electors prior to the ruling.