Electoral Hash

[ursangnome]

Senator Kerry is currently giving his concession speech. The election is over, and I don't think it went well. That leaves me in a mood to be perverse...

It looks like Bush takes Ohio. Fine. That gives him 274 electoral votes. At the time of this writing, Iowa and New Mexico look to also go to Bush, but are very close. For argument's sake, imagine that they instead go to Kerry.

It looks like Colorado's initiative to allow splitting of it's electoral votes will fail. But CNN still lists it as unlikely, rather than decided. So, what happens if it goes against expectations? Kerry gets 4 of Bush's electoral votes. Leaving the President with only the required 270.

And now we consider that not all electors are bound to vote in line with their constituents. A few are allowed to vote their conscience. If the above unlikely things were to happen, how unlikely would it be for one person to vote against the grain, leaving us with a 269-269 split? Or, how about two people of conscience going rogue?

What a strange trip that would be...

Comments

[starshadow2004.livejournal.com]

You may recall that in 2000, (and admittedly, I could be off on the numbers), when all was said and done in Florida, Bush won by a mere five electoral votes. One of the electoral voters from DC left her vote blank as a protest - and what, indeed, would have happened if others followed suit? Shades of Rutherford and Hayes....