Have the States usurped the Framers original intent of the Electoral College and is it unconstitutional for any of them to make a law requiring Presidential Electors to vote a certain way?
The Framers feared "American Idle" style voting and never intended for the President to be picked by a populous vote of we the People. Several States have passed statutes making it against the law for their Presidential Electors to vote against their political party's Candidate, this is more than likely Unconstitutional.
When you vote in November, you are not voting to choose who the next President is going to be; you are voting for group's of people who may get to vote for who the next President is going to be; dependent on if the group you voted for wins the populous vote of the State you're voting in
(a couple of State's break these groups down into individual congressional districts); there is a group for each individual presidential candidate, the members of each group are made up of the same political affiliation as the presidential candidate, and are usually picked by their Party.
The Constitution doesn't even give individuals a 'right' to an individual vote although references to such are contained in subsequent amendments.
So,... don't like the way it turns out? Simple. Don't attempt to hijack someone elses party. Run as an Independent or designated third party candidate, get enough votes to be on the ballot and knock yourself out.
The Constitution gives the Electors the right to vote for who they want the next President to be, it does not give the States the rights to tell their Electors how to vote; I have suggested it would be unconstitutional for the States to do so.
That was not the purpose of the document.
States legislatures are given full latitude about type of ballot, electronic vs paper, dates set for primaries and caucuses, open vs closed,.... all of the above.The Constitution specifically DOES NOT dictate how the electors are to vote, only that they convene and do so.
If the constituents don't like how a particular state conducts the process, the citizens have the option to remove the existing elected officials and replace them.
It is expressly left up to the states to make those decisions.
If a state legislature wants to mandate that electors follow the results of districts or by counties, it is well within their right to do so.
It cannot be deemed unConstitutional because the Constitution doesn't address any of that.
Before that change was made, whoever came in second out of all candidates from all parties,..... became Vice Pres.
That posed a problem because of policy differences and a possible coup attempt.
http://www.heritage.org/resea...