So what if Flordia has 2 sets of electors?
Doesn’t Jeb Bush get to choose which ones to send or count?
Am I right? Maybe not, but please clarify.
That would be totally unfair, he would or should let someone else do that.
AFAIK, Jeb “removed” himself around November 8, citing “conflict of intersts”, whatever it means (“remove”, I understand COI part). Whether it means that leutenant governor has to deal with this or somebody else, on FL constitutional ladder, I do not know.
Jeb does not get to choose. The US Constitution give the state legislature the right to select electors. The state governor has no part in it. While you heard him say he is willing to sign off on it, in reality that is not his choice. The legislature can pass a resolution naming the state’s electors. At that point it is done. It is not a law. There is nothing for the governor to sign since that implies he has veto power over the resolution, which he does not.
Keep in mind that the legislature will not get involved unless the courts overturn the election, blocking the naming of any electors. As long as the election results in electors, for Bush or for Gore, being selected, the legislature will stay out of it. The legislature is justing getting ready in case something happens. The constitution requires that each state name electors.
The scenario I’ve heard discussed where Jeb Bush would get to choose the president is this.
- Florida sends two sets of electoral returns to Congress.
- When Congress counts the votes in January, the decision on which set to accept is sent to each house of Congress to decide.
- The two bodies vote on this independently of each other. Presumably the House would vote for the Republican slate and the Senate would vote for the Democratic slate.
- In this case, Congress then sends both slates of electors back to Florida with instructions for the chief executive of that state (i.e. Jeb Bush) to tell it which slate is valid.
BobT, that’s the scenario I’ve heard by a few experts as well. The one hangup is that it isn’t really set in stone whether Al Gore can cast the tie breaking vote in this case, that would also have to go to the Supreme Court.
I’ve also heard that if this happens Jeb faces a jail term from the Florida Supreme Court because of contempt of court charges. Not sure where this came from but I think it was Tim Russert who explained it. It might come from a past Florida Supreme Court ruling. If that is the case, then let Jeb sign off on it, then brother George can pardon him.
It sounds like Jeb would be in contempt of a Florida court and not a Federal court. If so, his brother George wouldn’t be able to pardon him as president for that particular crime.
The chief executive of Florida would have to pardon him and that’s …
Oh, let’s just not go there.
Essentially, Bob has it right. The electors that will(almost definately) be picked on Tuesday by the Flordia legislature will be for Bush. Hey, it’s not Bush’s fault the people of Florida elected a 2/3 majority for the Repubs.
This group of electors is nearly unbreakable. Really, only the Supreme Court(U.S.) could overrule the selection of this(since any lower court rulings would be appealed). It’s a strictly Federal issue at this point, which means the 7 Democrat Flor. Supreme Court would have no say.
Of course, Jeb Bush would have to sign the bill(or statute) to send those 25 electors, but he could leave it alone for 7 days and then it would pass without his signature. Then again, it’s not really Dubya’s fault the Florida people voted his brother in.
Long story short, Gore’s screwed. I know it sounds harsh, but other than the Florida Surpeme Court, who have been his best friend, everything is Republican. The U.S. supreme court is 7-2 Republican, but that doesn’t mean as much since the Conservatives there tend to lean toward state’s rights(small s). It’s highly unlikely for them to overturn the Florida legislature.
Then again, no one on Wednesday(December 6) thought the Florida Surpreme Court would overturn Saul’s ruling on the hand counts, and here we are.