After Safe Harbor day, we were told we can relax. The states’ electors have voted. Biden won.
But still the Trump ninnies keep yelling about overturning the election. Now Pence is their Hail Mary. Somehow, they believe, he can simply overturn the will of the people when he presides over the Congressional vote to accept the state electors.
Neal Katyal and John Monsky wrote a New York Times column explaining however, that Pence’s authority in that process is fairly limited.
They argue that the Electoral Count Act, passed in 1887, hems him into a simple “ministerial” role.
The act states “the vice president must open ‘all certificates and papers purporting to be’ electoral votes,” they write.
Well, I’ve read several stories stating Trump supporters have created slates of ‘alternate electors,’ who would vote him in.
So, we may well have several ‘certificates and papers purporting to be’ electoral votes, from a single state.
Maybe the Trumpets aren’t as stupid as they sound.
