The "Faithless Electors" Are Rising Up!
Electoral College’s Faithless Delegates
On November 29th, we here at Generals International sent out a critical Shields Up alert about the need for prayer for the Electoral College. The Electors will vote from all 50 states for the President and Vice-President. Their numbers are decided by:
1. The numbers of U.S. Senators (always two), plus the number of U.S. Representatives in the state.
2. Each state decides how these electors will be chosen. This was to pacify states suspicious of a central national government.
3. Each state meets in their own states to prevent bribery, corruption, secret dealing and foreign influence.
4. Each state casts one vote for president and one vote for the vice president.[1]
Roots of this system can be traced to the Centurial Assembly system of the Roman Republic. Under that system, the adult male citizens of Rome were divided according to their wealth into groups of 100 (called Centuries). Each group of 100 was entitled to cast only one vote either in favor of or against proposals submitted to them by the Roman Senate. Of course, our Electoral College is not based on wealth, however, our founders did believe that those who would represent each state be people of knowledge and expertise.
The system of the Electoral College is important, because this country is a united group of states, both large and small. The Electoral College system allows for all the states to have a voice in the running of the nation, not just states with larger populations.
In the earlier Shields Up, we warned against “faithless electors” who might try to disrupt the will of the states by casting their vote against the results of the election.
Now this is actually happening! At the writing of this article, there are already seven faithless electors that I could find. They are part of a group being calling the “Hamilton Electors”. They call themselves such, as they believe that they are doing what the founding father, Alexander Hamilton, meant in the design of the Electoral College. Colorado is leading the way in this, but now there is a Republican from Texas who has also “defected”, saying that he does not believe that Trump will be a fit president.
Twenty-nine states, as well as the District of Colombia, have laws to penalize faithless electors. In lieu of penalizing a faithless elector, some states, such as Michigan and Minnesota, specify the faithless elector’s vote will be by voice, though this has never been invoked.
The Supreme Court confirmed the constitutionality of state pledge laws in 1952 in Ray vs Blair in a 5-2 vote. The court ruled that requiring a pledge, not a vote, was constitutional, although they have never ruled on the constitutionality of state laws punishing electors for actually casting a faithless vote.
As I looked at some who have run to be an elector in their states, I see that we need both intercession and reformers, who will take part in the political process in their states. We need those who will run for this important position who are knowledgeable and committed to the states they represent.
Here are some important points for prayer:
That these Hamilton electors who are faithless electors will not be able to change the will of the states who have voted and its electorate and, thus, change the outcome of the election.
That the Electoral College will stay intact and allow each of the 50 states a voice in who represents them as president and vice-president.
That future Electoral College members will be men and women of prayer who are knowledgeable and experienced in governmental matters.
That Believers will take authority over any anarchy, bribery, and corruption in the Electoral College system.
[1] William C. Kimberling, Deputy Director FEC National Clearinghouse on Election Administration
