Nader II: Elector Boogaloo

I voted this morning before coming in to work. I live in Georgia, where the Presidential candidates on the ballot were Al Gore (Democrat), George Bush (Republican), Harry Browne (Libertarian), and Pat Buchanan (Independent [sic]).

Ralph Nader and the Green Party weren’t there, so I had to write him in. The Green Party is very poorly organized in Georgia.

After each “official” candidate’s name were the names of his electors. In Gore’s case they included the governor of Georgia and the mayor of Atlanta. In Browne and Buchanan’s cases they were all people I’ve never heard of.

Now, my General Question is this: If, against all odds, Nader won Georgia (or any state) as a write-in candidate, who would serve as his electors?

The Georgia Code doesn’t seem to provide an answer to your question.

In theory, you are voting for electors, and not for the Presidential candidate per se, so it could be argued that by writing in Nader’s name, you were voting for him as an elector. However, the code requires that the number of electors be equal to the number of U.S. Senators and Representatives for Georgia. One is not enough.

If I were the judge, and the unlikely scenario in the OP arose, I would allow either Nader or the Green Party to designate the electors to be sent to the Electoral College.

This is a very good question, Five. I wonder if it would get a better response if you petitioned the admins to let you change the subject. I have wondered about this myself, and I’d like to know the answer.