I'm curious how it plays out if Trump simply refuses to allow electors from non-republican states physical access to attend congress after the next election. My understanding is, they have to be physically present to cast their votes. It would seem, he could literally just deploy the NG and physically prevent them and that would be sufficient to swing the election.
The U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section I, Clause 3[0][1] states (in part):
The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted."
Doesn't make sense because they would still need a majority electoral votes. If the election goes gop, then keeping the Dems out does nothing. If the election goes dem, then keeping Dems out also pushed the process nowhere.
if they delay the vote long enough they can say there’s no clear winner and the house effectively gets to appoint the president.That’s what they were trying to do on January 6.
This time it has the neat side effect of letting them cleanly appoint Trump for a third term without him being elected twice, which (it will be claimed) does not violate the 22nd amendment.
“No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice”
>I'm curious how it plays out if Trump simply refuses to allow electors from non-republican states physical access to attend congress after the next election. My understanding is, they have to be physically present to cast their votes.
Your understanding is incredibly confused. Yes, electors need to meet within each state to cast their ballots at a location specified by each state.
Those ballots are certified by (a) state official(s) (on or before December 12th) and those ballots are then forwarded to DC (IIRC, to the National Archives) and those certified ballots are conveyed to the capital for counting on January 6th.
So, no. The electors needn't go to Washington DC to "cast their ballots." In fact, if they did so on the appointed day for them to cast their ballot, they'd be unable to do so, as that process would be proceeding without them in the state which designated them as an elector.
