# If 3 Bush electors had switched to Gore in 2000 **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 19, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-3-bush-electors-had-switched-to-gore-in-2000/693503 "2014-07-19T02:29:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-3-bush-electors-had-switched-to-gore-in-2000/693503/21 "2014-07-20T00:08:14Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > The Minnesota law kicks in before the vote is done. Yeah, this is where it gets complicated. There might need to be a Supreme Court ruling before this is allowed to stand. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-3-bush-electors-had-switched-to-gore-in-2000/693503/22 "2014-07-20T00:37:09Z")
> [@MrKnowItAll](#): > > Well, “revisionism” may be too strong of a word. However, the OP implies, perhaps unintentionally, that Bush _definitely_ won the election. That’s simply not what happened. He was _awarded_ the election by the court. The Supreme Court didn’t rule on the outcome of the election. They ruled on whether a recount could continue past the federally-established deadline. This has the side effect of causing Bush to win, but at no point did the Court “award” the presidency to Bush, nor does it follow that if they had ruled differently that Gore would have become president. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-3-bush-electors-had-switched-to-gore-in-2000/693503/23 "2014-07-20T15:25:58Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The Supreme Court didn’t rule on the outcome of the election. They ruled on whether a recount could continue past the federally-established deadline. This has the side effect of causing Bush to win, but at no point did the Court “award” the presidency to Bush, nor does it follow that if they had ruled differently that Gore would have become president. It almost certainly would not have – multiple recounts after it was all over, done by newspapers and outside orgs, all showed Bush still winning. The most likely effect of the SC was to eliminate another month or two of ballot counting that would have given the same result in the end. Knowing how the decision has been perceived ever since, it might have been best to let it go on anyway. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-3-bush-electors-had-switched-to-gore-in-2000/693503/24 "2014-07-20T17:16:25Z")
Surely the answer to the OP is rather straightforward and obvious? Al Gore would have been elected the 43rd President of the United States. That’s it. It’s how the system works. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-3-bush-electors-had-switched-to-gore-in-2000/693503/25 "2014-07-20T17:30:34Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > The Minnesota law kicks in before the vote is done. [QUOTE=Constitution] The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States. [/QUOTE] Congress has set the day of"choosing" the electors to be general election day. Minnesota (like 48 other states) says that the winner of the state’s popular vote gets his slate of electors appointed. That slate is set in advance. I would argue that a replacement on the day of the electoral college would constitute a separate choice of an elector in violation of the federal law and the constitution. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-3-bush-electors-had-switched-to-gore-in-2000/693503/26 "2014-07-20T17:34:49Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Surely the answer to the OP is rather straightforward and obvious? Al Gore would have been elected the 43rd President of the United States. That’s it. It’s how the system works. Not really. The bottom line is that there are laws in many states which require electors to vote for the candidate they’re pledged to and invalidate their votes if they don’t do so. But the constitutionality of these laws haven’t been determined. So it’s an open question. If three electors pledged to Bush had decided to vote for Gore, their votes might not have counted. Or they might have. ---
**Author:** ![MrsTime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@MrsTime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrsTime)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-3-bush-electors-had-switched-to-gore-in-2000/693503/27 "2014-07-21T04:30:59Z")
If Ralph Nader hadn’t run in that election you would have had President Gore. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-3-bush-electors-had-switched-to-gore-in-2000/693503/28 "2014-07-21T04:41:30Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Not really. The bottom line is that there are laws in many states which require electors to vote for the candidate they’re pledged to and invalidate their votes if they don’t do so. But the constitutionality of these laws haven’t been determined. > > So it’s an open question. If three electors pledged to Bush had decided to vote for Gore, their votes might not have counted. Or they might have. And the one time there was a real dispute over the validity of electoral votes, it was not handled especially well. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-3-bush-electors-had-switched-to-gore-in-2000/693503/29 "2014-07-21T13:49:12Z")
The question as posed by the OP should have involved **four** electors switching, not three. If three electors would have switched, the result would have been Gore 269, Bush 268, and one blank vote. To be elected, a candidate must receive a majority _of the electors appointed_, not of the votes cast. So there would have been no election, and the House of Representatives, voting by state, would have had to choose between Bush and Gore. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-3-bush-electors-had-switched-to-gore-in-2000/693503/30 "2014-07-21T21:04:31Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > The question as posed by the OP should have involved **four** electors switching, not three. > > If three electors would have switched, the result would have been Gore 269, Bush 268, and one blank vote. To be elected, a candidate must receive a majority _of the electors appointed_, not of the votes cast. So there would have been no election, and the House of Representatives, voting by state, would have had to choose between Bush and Gore. Interesting. So 270 is still the magic number then. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-3-bush-electors-had-switched-to-gore-in-2000/693503/31 "2014-07-21T23:41:14Z")
This was a pretty well known small deal at the time. [Some sample coverage:](http://nypost.com/2000/11/17/dem-in-scheme-to-flip-electors-party-big-digs-up-bush-backer-info/) > [@](#): > > A top Democratic operative yesterday admitted “information-gathering” on Republican Electoral College members to try to flip them to Al Gore – prompting GOP charges of “tampering.” > > Gore campaign chief Bill Daley said it’s news to him – but added that veteran operative Bob Beckel is free to keep digging into the backgrounds of Republicans pledged to Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-3-bush-electors-had-switched-to-gore-in-2000/693503/32 "2014-07-22T00:38:21Z")
> [@MrsTime](#): > > If Ralph Nader hadn’t run in that election you would have had President Gore. Will someone please put this canard to rest? While technically true, it’s also true that if Gore had run a better campaign, you would have had President Gore. If Democrats had been better at getting out the vote, you would have had President Gore. If there hadn’t been a war on, you’d have had President Gore. In any number of hypothetical situations, the results would have been different. Some voters preferred Nader over Gore. Rather a larger number preferred Bush over Gore. Another larger number chose not to vote at all. All of these factors contributed to Bush’s win Singling out Nader and voters who voted their conscience for blame may be satisfying, but it’s not accurate in that it’s only a small part of the story. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-3-bush-electors-had-switched-to-gore-in-2000/693503/33 "2014-07-22T04:19:47Z")
That was one ugly election, all around. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-3-bush-electors-had-switched-to-gore-in-2000/693503.md?page=1)