Members of the Electoral College Take an Oath to Uphold the Constitution| The Post & Email
CAN STATE LEGISLATURES ENFORCE IT?
by Paul Hollrah, ©2011
Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution defines the duties of the Electoral College
(Oct. 28, 2011) — As a two-time member of the Electoral College, I am aware that the vast majority of electors totally misunderstand their duties and responsibilities. Most are convinced that their only duty is to ratify the selections made at their party’s national nominating convention. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Writing in the Federalist Papers, in defense of the proposed Electoral College, Alexander Hamilton expressed an overriding concern of the times. He wrote: “These most deadly adversaries of republican government (cabal, intrigue, etc.) might actually have expected to make their approach from more than one quarter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils. How could they better gratify this than by raising a creature of their own (a “Manchurian candidate?”) to the chief magistracy of the Union?”
The fears that Hamilton expressed were not given credence until late in the 20th century and early in the 21st century. In 1996, had Democratic electors known of the huge sums of money poured into the Clinton-Gore reelection campaign by the People’s Republic of China, would they have voted unanimously to reelect Bill Clinton and Al Gore? I suspect that many veterans of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War would have had second thoughts.
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