Bob's Commentary

Preparing for the "Long Game" 

Now that the Electoral College day came and ended, deciding as expected, that Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States many questions still go unanswered regarding the Electoral College beyond Trump and his soon to be presidency. His election comes with a dubious distinction being the fifth president inaugurated without receiving a polarity of the national popular vote, the previous four presidencies of that distinction historians have almost universally considered failed presidencies, (John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, GW Bush), where now Trump's presidency is complicated by the Russian connection. Also the first presidential election where there was a genuine question whether the expected winner was being challenged in the Electoral College. That new phenomena was connected to our cause, which will go forward. This "cause" now wrapped in a Federal lawsuit, challenges the twenty-nine states' laws that bind Presidential Electors to the directives of their state legislature. We hold these laws unconstitutional, and furthermore we seek to affirm that all American voters have the right to cast a vote that reflects their conscience, be in the capacity of an official representative duty or in any election be it for president or dog catcher. 

On its surface this appears to be a simple or straightforward question. Are Presidential Electors in twenty-nine states merely a robotic, ministerial function, where any form of free agency or dissent regardless of what is learned subsequent to the election day will have their vote discarded and their elected position immediately impeached and removed for voting against the state's interest, OR, are Presidential Electors, actual voters, in the final act of electing the President of the United States, and therefore, free to vote their conscience? But once you begin poking at this customary institution you uncover vexing constitutional questions even calling into question the entire Electoral College system itself. The reality is there is not settled constitutional law regarding states' laws as to the act of voting by Presidential Electors, and furthermore, how is the Electoral College in consort with the 14th Amendment of one person, one vote, and the equal protection clause? Furthermore, states' laws appear to be in conflict 18 U.S. Code § 594 - Intimidation of voters:

"Whoever intimidates, threatens, coerces, or attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose, or of causing such other person to vote for, or not to vote for,..."

Let me be clear, Wayne Williams, Colorado's Secretary of State, certainly sought to and was successful in intimidating, threatening, coercing and interfering with our act of voting by Colorado Electors in this year's Electoral College. He conceived an emergency so he could create a once in a lifetime oath of office that was a perjury trap, he then bullied and created new rules during the proceedings where he had no authority and then he removed an elector after being warned not to do so by the 10th Circuit Federal Appellate Court. Therefore along with the Hon. Polly Baca, (the venerable politician of Colorado), and with our team of lawyers, we are going to take this matter through the Federal Court system and find out what is the constitution regarding the Electoral College. When our lawyers outlined our case seeking an Emergency Restraining Order we couldn't have scripted a better response by Colorado's Attorney General and Secretary of State providing us and the court, evidence to bring forward our suit. 

Overall the 2016 Electoral College Day the nation witnessed highest number of "faithless" electors since 1808 and the first time since 1832 when more than one Presidential Elector voted "faithless" in the election of his own party, this is historic by any measure. An unmistakable benchmark therefore begs the questions as to why? 

Was this faithless reaction simply due to the controversial nature of President-elect Donald J. Trump, or, is there a deeper issue emerging in America's political landscape regarding the election of the president? This simply scratches the surface of  more provocative questions that lie ahead as our legal initiative goes forward. It is a journey that began the day after the national election, gelling the weekend after Thanksgiving and fully constituting during the month of December. You may come up to speed on the entire development of our journey from the links provided in the right margin. I will try to keep up on the developments of our cause and lawsuit each week going forward. And I welcome your comments or questions. ---- Bob Nemanich