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Presidential Electors Pressured to Abandon Bush
CNSNews.com
Friday, Dec. 15, 2000
Al Gore may have conceded to President-elect Bush, but a group calling itself "Citizens for a True Democracy" is trying to pressure Republican electors to vote for Gore.
Its Web site, VoteWithAmerica.com, encourages visitors to "make your voice heard by calling, e-mailing, or writing to the electors" to ask that they "vote with America" and elect Gore.
"We have obtained," the Web site's message said, "contact information for 172 electors in 18 states that voted Republican in this election. Most of the targeted states do not legally require their electors to vote for the party's official candidate, meaning that each elector is free to put patriotism above partisanship."
The Web site was set up by David Enrich, a senior at Claremont-McKenna College in Claremont, Calif. In a statement, Enrich said, "Conscientious electors are America's only chance to stop an unfair and anti-democratic institution from overruling the will of the American people. The VoteWithAmerica.com campaign has picked up steam while Gore's legal efforts have gone up in smoke."
Founding Fathers and Constitution Be Damned
Enrich believes there should be campaign finance reform and an abolition of the Electoral College. "Most Americans believe that the popular vote, not the electoral vote, should determine the presidency," he said.
One of the electors being targeted by the group is Frances Sadler, a Bush elector who resides in Ashland, Va. When contacted, Sadler said on a telephone message, "If you are calling about the Electoral College, I am casting my vote for George W. Bush. If you are calling to change my mind, you are wasting your time."
Other electors being targeted to change their votes from Bush to Gore are Wayne MacDonald of Derry, N.H.; Mamon Wright of Memphis, Tenn.; and Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz.
Arpaio said he was not switching his vote either and added, tongue-in-cheek, that being targeted by the group is an "honor and a privilege."
Arpaio says he has received many phone calls and letters encouraging him to vote for Gore, but his mind is already made up.
"I endorsed Bush before it became popular, against my hometown Senator [John] McCain in the primary. Bush came here and asked me for an endorsement and I gave it to him.
"So, why would I break from Bush? So come Monday, I will cast my vote for George W., come Monday at two o'clock, Phoenix time," Arpaio said.
Neither Wright nor MacDonald could be reached for comment.
Anti-Coup Americans Fight Back
The harassment attempt could backfire. Several readers have sent e-mails to NewsMax.com saying they visited VoteWithAmerica.com but changed the message to one of support and sent it to the electors. However, one reader cautioned that people should not send e-mail through that site "as it is very simple for them to affix your e-mail address to their own message and edit out the real message."
Other options are available. At least one Web site - shambusters.homepage.com - is campaigning to urge the Bush electors to honor their pledge and ignore the harassment.
If two of Bush's 271 electors were to abandon him, there would be a tie. With neither Bush nor Gore having an absolute majority of the 538-member Electoral College, the presidential election would go to the House of Representatives. There, each delegation would cast one vote, and a candidate would need at least 26 votes to win. Republicans control at least 28 House delegations.
Several weeks ago, Gore said in an interview: "I completely disavow any effort to persuade electors to switch their support from the candidate to whom they are pledged. I will not accept the support of any elector pledged to Governor Bush."
On Jan. 6, 2001, Vice President Gore, in his capacity as president of the Senate, will open and count the electoral votes, state by state, before a joint session of Congress. A majority of both chambers can reject any vote found to be improper.
If Republicans wanted to reject a faithless elector, they could do so without any Democrat support in the House because they hold a majority. But in the Senate, where the 100 members are split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, Gore could conceivably cast the tiebreaker in any dispute over an electoral vote.
However, Enrich is adamant. "Though Gore has distanced himself from CTD's efforts, his campaign acknowledges that he will accept victory if electors defect."
Enrich, however, said he did not vote for Gore. "We are not Democrats and we did not vote for Al Gore. VoteWithAmerica.com is based on the simple principle that the candidate that wins the most votes nationally should be the next president. The electors should put patriotism above partisanship."
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