We're all supposed to know how the electoral college works, but I for one had to look it up to be sure I was remembering right. We cast our votes as individuals; each state (ahead of time) selects a slate of electoral voters for each candidate, based on population basically (the numbers match how many Senators plus Representatives they have in Washington); the popular vote determines which slate of electoral voters will actually vote.
The meeting of the electors takes place on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December after the presidential election. The electors meet in their respective states, where they cast their votes for President and Vice President on separate ballots. The President of the Senate counts the electoral votes on January 6, unless it falls on a Sunday.
The rebuttable presumption here is that all of the electoral voters are going to vote for the candidate whose slate they are on. This presumption has been 'rebutted' a number of times by electoral voters who choose to cast their votes for a different candidate, or to abstain. Those rogue votes would be, at the very least, withholding a vote from a candidate, whether it goes toward the total of another one or not.
*To date* such votes have not affected the outcome of elections. The point, however, is that we cannot know for certain sure that whoever 'takes' California by popular vote, for example, is going to automatically end up with all 55 of those electoral votes. The same goes for all the rest of the States.
That having been said, here's the WHAT IF:
WHAT IF, since this year has already been weird, it just gets even more weird come time for the Electoral College vote?
WHAT IF the whole kit and caboodle of slated electors from one side or the other decide they don't want to vote for the candidate they're 'supposed' to vote for after all? They really DO have that option, you know. And their votes are anonymous so nobody will know which voted how (unless it's across the board and then it's pretty obvious).
So what happens if a candidate's slated electors choose to vote for someone else? Do the votes go to the other person or are they voided? Either way, that candidate doesn't get their votes. Going back to the California example, since California's got the most electoral votes, suppose (just for the fun of it) that 50 of those 55 electoral voters 'go rogue'? Whoever was supposed to have gotten all 55 votes ends up with only 5. Whether those votes to to another candidate or are voided, that candidate is still out 50 votes of the 270 needed to win the election. Suppose the pattern is repeated again and again and again with state after state after state 'going rogue'. IF they're all voided and don't go to another candidate, and no other candidate has enough to get to the 270 (which, if said candidate would have had said 270, could happen) it's the equivalent of a 'hung jury' verdict. Nobody wins.
Then what?
If no candidate receives 270 electoral votes, the House of Representatives will pick the president. Each state delegation gets one vote, regardless of the number of congressional districts it has. 26 votes, representing a majority of the states, are required to win.
http://www.fairvote.org/the_electoral_college#how_the_electoral_college_works_today
^^^ That's got more useful information ... but still the search is on. I've found quite a bit of information about this, which you can find too if you do a quick search, but I still don't know exactly whether or not rogue votes are voided or go to whoever the elector voted for. If anyone has the answer, please let us know. I think they go on the record as voted, but ...
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