ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In a white paper
released today, The Amistad Project of the non-partisan Thomas More
Society is arguing that the current Electoral College deadlines are
both arbitrary and a direct impediment to states' obligations to
investigate disputed elections.
The authoritative research paper breaks down the history of
Electoral College deadlines and makes clear that this election's
December 8 and December 14 deadlines for the selection of
Electors, the assembly of the Electoral College, and the tallying
of its votes, respectively, are not only elements of of a 72-year
old federal statute with zero Constitutional basis, but are also
actively preventing the states from fulfilling their constitutional
— and ethical — obligation to hold free and fair elections. Experts
believe that the primary basis for these dates was to provide
enough time to affect the presidential transition of power, a
concern which is fully obsolete in the age of internet and air
travel.
The white paper also shows that the December 8 "safe harbor" deadline for appointing
presidential Electors does not apply to states where flagrant
violations of state election laws affected the outcome of the
popular vote. In fact, the only Constitutionally-set date in the
election process is the assumption of office by the President on
January 20.
The Amistad Project has filed litigation in several key swing
states arguing that illegal conduct by state and local officials
led to more than 1.2 million potentially fraudulent ballots,
including illegal votes that were counted and legal votes that were
not counted. In each state, the number of potentially fraudulent
ballots far exceeds the margin separating the leading presidential
candidate.
"Through rigorous investigations supporting our litigation, we
demonstrate that state and local officials brazenly violated
election laws in several swing states in order to advance a
partisan political agenda," said Phill
Kline, Director of The Amistad Project. "As a result, it is
impossible for those states to determine their presidential
Electors in line with the arbitrary deadline set forth via federal
statute in 1948, and thus, the only deadline that matters is
January 20, 2021."
Although federal law sets December 8,
2020 as the date on which determinations of Electors made
pursuant to state election law automatically become official, the
law does not require Electors to be designated by that date in
order to be counted. Because the U.S. Constitution places ultimate
authority for designating presidential Electors in the hands of
state legislatures, it is the responsibility of the people's
elected representatives to judge the relevant facts and appoint an
appropriate slate of Electors, subject only to the sole deadline
set forth in the U.S. Constitution — 12:00 noon on January 20, 2021.
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SOURCE Amistad Project