Letter: Law to be followed by this Elector
It is my honor to serve as the Presidential Elector for the 8th Congressional District of Indiana. I was elected to that position at a Republican Party caucus held on April 9, 2016. This is my first time to be selected for this duty and I am looking forward to meeting with other Electors to cast our votes for President and Vice President of the United States of America.
The Electoral College is more of a process than an institution. The Founding Fathers established it in the Constitution as a compromise between election of the President by a vote in Congress and the election of the President by a popular vote of citizens. The Electoral College process consists of the selection of the electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress.
Three political parties (Republican, Democrat and Libertarian) in Indiana have their presidential candidates placed on the ballot after their party’s national conventions. Presidential electors pledged to support the party’s candidates are chosen at caucuses prior to the start of state conventions. The presidential electors for the presidential and vice presidential candidates who receive the most votes in Indiana are certified as the official presidential electors for the state.
On the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, Indiana’s electors meet at 10:00 am in the chamber of the House of Representatives in the State House. The electors vote separately for President and Vice President. The electors then sign a certificate which is sent to the current Vice President (as President of the US Senate), to the National Archives, to the Chief Judge of the Southern District Federal Court of Indiana and to the Indiana Secretary of State.
The electoral votes from each state are counted in a joint session of the US Senate and House of Representatives. After the votes are counted, the Vice President declares the candidates receiving a majority of the votes cast to be the President-elect and Vice President-elect. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast for either office, the House will choose the President and the Senate the Vice-President. The President-elect and Vice President-elect will take their oaths of office on January 20th.
I have received a great number of emails urging me to ignore the vote in the 8th District and Indiana and cast my votes for Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine. That’s NOT going to happen. I believe in playing by the rules. The candidates and their supporters in the races this year knew what the rules were when they started their campaigns.
America is a nation where the rule of law is preeminent. The U.S. Constitution, Constitution of the State of Indiana as well as federal and state laws are established by our representatives not as suggestions but as rules to be followed. It is incumbent on all of us to accept the outcome of elections and support the greatest system of government on earth.
I urge everyone to be involved in our political system. Be a candidate for public office. Become an active member of a political party. Join with others in political action. Be informed. Vote.
It takes effort to affect public policy and that starts with learning all you can about how our system of government works and what are the historical antecedents of our current situation. There are plenty of opportunities available to you.
Don Hayes
Jasper, Ind.
Don,
You are the last person I would imagine to be a “faithless elector.” Of course you are obliged morally and legally to cast your vote for the candidate of your party.
As a volunteer for the state bar association, I was in Dubois County before the election to speak to 5th and 6th graders about the electoral college, and I was mightily heartened with the knowledge these kids had. Your post may constitute a teachable moment — not for kids, but for most adults walking around today.
My one hope is that, for the sake of civility, at least one person (perhaps a contributor above), will let go of a monomaniacal obsession with all things “progressive.”
That being said . . .
Do your duty.
Mr. Patterson,
I agree with you that the intent of the founders was for the electors’ vote to assure a qualified and competent chief executive. Like most everything, the electoral college was a compromise, meant mostly to assuage James Madison’s fears of “factionalism.”
But, as usual, and despite the founders’ wishes, politics quickly raised its ugly head, and we’ve been stuck with the politicized electoral system ever since. While not an election attorney, I think the issue of the “faithless elector” has come before the Supremes a time or two. In both instances, the court refused to overturn state statutes that mandated political loyalty on behalf of the candidate’s slated electors. The cases may even have been dismissed as non-justiciable because they involved political questions.
The question then remains: Does Madison’s fear that the mob will trample on the rights of minorities still have merit. I think the argument may still have merit.
Dear Don Hayes,
I am a proud American who has deep respect for our Constitution and Democracy. I appreciate and honor the important role you serve.
I want to urge you to reconsider your position above. When you wrote this evidence hadn’t emerged indicating that Donald Trump appears beholden to Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin. We have just learned that the CIA believes Russia intended to undermine our election. Republican Senators including Lindsay Graham and John McCain are calling for hearings into the Russian hacking of the DNC and RNC email systems. There are known links between the Trump campaign and Russia, including former campaign chair Paul Manafort, who is reportedly under investigation by the FBI. Yet, when this issue was raised, Donald Trump entirely dismissed the value of US intelligence reports.
Donald Trump may not be loyal to our country or people. Trump is poised to violate the Emoluments Clause of United States. When he receives any payments “of any kind whatever” from a foreign leader or government, such as through his hotel, through his joint business ventures with governments, he will be breaking the law. In a letter, a bipartisan group, including six former Republican elected officials and including conservative Peter Schweizer, author of the book Clinton Cash stated that Trump must place all business assets and investments in a trust, and have an independent trustee dispose of the businesses and then invest the proceeds blindly. Yet, Trump has announced that he will not take these Constitutionally and ethically required steps.
In Federalist 68, Alexander Hamilton wrote that the electoral college should prevent the “desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils.” Mr. Trump has failed to take basic State Department briefings on national security seriously while instead spending his time bizarrely tweeting personal insults on trivial matters. These are not the actions o fa man with the temperament and morals to serve as our President.
In conclusion, I ask you for your loyalty to the Constitution and to preserve the purity our Democratic processes. Please reject Donald Trump and vote for another Republican or for Clinton.
Sincerely,
A concerned voter