Right-wing Freedom Caucus leader Representative Tina Mulally (R-35/Rapid City) is proposing House Concurrent Resolution 6001, a toothless declaration of support for the racist, unpopular, and obsolete Electoral College as a means of prolonging rural white folks’s disproportionate sway over the fate of our growing and diverse nation. HCR 6001 affirms the Constitutional provision that South Dakotans should get twice as much say in picking the President as Americans in Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida, and California and alleges that the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, onto which 205 Electoral College votes’ worth of the country has signed, is unconstitutional.
The Freedom Caucus’s understanding and application of the Constitution is selective at best. And they are about as effective as logicians as they are as tacticians. The seventh Whereas in HCR 6001 fundamentally contradicts the resolution’s antimajoritarianism with an appeal to majoritarianism:
WHEREAS, under the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, a state’s electoral vote could be awarded to a candidate opposed by the majority of our state’s citizens;… [2024 HCR 6001, filed 2024.01.08].
Majority rule matters to Mulally and her Republican colleagues only when it breaks their way at the state level. Apparently it’s perfectly fine with Mulally and Team HCR 6001 if rural states rig elections so that the Presidency can be awarded to a candidate opposed by the majority of the nation’s citizens.
The Electoral College actually guarantees that South Dakota, California, and 39 other states—four-fifths of Americans—will be mostly ignored in the 2024 Presidential election. Contrary to HCR 6001’s third Whereas clause, which contends that the Electoral College “creates a needed balance between rural and urban interests and ensures that the winning candidate has support from multiple regions of the country,” the Electoral College only ensures that rural and urban states with strong partisan tilts are mostly ignored by Presidential candidates and gives outsize influence to special interests in battleground states where the number of Electoral College votes available is worth the effort to mobilize their bases and sway the small fraction of swayable voters.
Republicans’ goal is not to make every vote count; it’s to make votes for Republicans count more. That self-serving goal leads them into the fallacies and falsehoods of resolutions like HCR 6001. Legislators who believe all people are created equal and all people’s votes should count the same should vote against HCR 6001 and revive 2011 Senate Bill 138, South Dakota’s first stab at the National Popular Vote Interstate Vote Compact (which had bipartisan sponsors before some Republican yutz from Michigan came to support the bill but got it canned with his wisecracks).
Watching the SDGOP circular firing squad is dizzying for sure.
Hey, Kurtz ! Didn’t you vote for former dem governor Bill Richardson, now a known sex trafficker with his buddy Epstein?
No.
Was still in Spearditch when Richardson was in office.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/25/majority-of-americans-continue-to-favor-moving-away-from-electoral-college/
New Mexico will fix the loophole in its statute that prevents the AG from prosecuting those involved in a fake elector scheme, though.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/new-mexico-attorney-general-says-fake-gop-electors-cant-prosecuted-rec-rcna132609
https://www.plaintalk.net/local_news/opinion/article_8d751afe-ab4d-11ee-ad61-df61687eb3e7.html
This resolution is drafted perbatum to the resolution I drafted and sent to the Legislators almost 10 days ago. The sponsors of the resolution are the very legislators I had emailed, so I am thankful that my voice is heard in Minnehaha County. Perehaps if you Democrats are so conndered, then HELP me get rid fo the attachment to the State’s popular vote rule, and get back to a true “Representative rule” that is the 1 District, 1 Vote Rule. This then proportions the proper amount results based on the people’s vote in each of the 435 districts. Democrats do not support this, cause they kno there are MORE RURAL DISTRICTS than urban districts. The ELECTORS choose the President, not the direct vote of the people. The PEOPLE go to the polls to elect their “Representative Elector”. This person then goes to the convention to cast one vote for their DISTRICT VOTE, and a second vote for a candidate that resides outside our State Borders. And the Candidate that gets 50% + 1 of the Electors then becomes President. Easy, Fair, and Honest.
https://theconversation.com/jan-6-was-an-example-of-networked-incitement-a-media-and-disinformation-expert-explains-the-danger-of-political-violence-orchestrated-over-social-media-220501
Trump’s lawyers are arguing that a unitary executive could launch the extraordinary rendition or worse of anyone anywhere anytime without due process because he can.
larry, that is an amazing argument as it would mean that Biden has the authority to order the military to take Trump out along with any and all of his supporters. It is surprising that Republicans that support Trump would have the Court rule Biden has legal immunity to do anything he chooses to Trump, as part of his duty to protect and defend the USA. And it would also mean that Biden could easily give Democrats control of the House by simply removing enough troublesome Republicans by either killing them or shipping them to Gitmo if he was in a generous mood. I guess the old adage “be careful of what you ask for” is still alive and well.
Exactly, bat; that’s why the electoral college should be abolished.
If South Dakota’s US Senators really want to preserve the republic they should help convict Trump on the very charges he was impeached for and end his election bid immediately.
The legal theory Trump’s team is resting on is ridiculous on its face. They argue the only way the President could be tried for criminal official acts while in office is to be successfully impeached and then criminally tried. So, if Biden orders hit squads from Delta on the Trump family and then immediately resigns, he cannot be prosecuted.
What could go wrong?
The SCOTUS is in a box: if it rules the unitary executive is immune to prosecution President Biden could call for the removal of every Republican who incited insurrection.
Dicta, under Trump’s theory Biden could also remove (i.e., kill, lock up, or whatever otherwise illegal act he chooses) any Republican in the House that might vote to impeach as well as any Republican in the Senate that he thought might vote to convict.
Yes, Trump is correct, even Abraham Lincoln used his authority to bind ALL Federal Officers, Agents, Congressman to his “Iron-Clad Oath” to support, and not bare arms against the United States – if they broke the oath, they could have been suspended, their salaries stripped from them, and even terminated, forced to resign their offices. The President is immune to all his actions in preserving, protecting, and defending the constitution. That is the absolute authority given to the President by the States (the people). To Hold Federal Officers, Agents, Congressman, and Employees Accountable to their oath under Article 6. Lincoln removed many federal officers/employees using that oath.
Trump in GTMO is an intriguing goal but house arrest, a gag order and loss of passport is probably adequate. Joe can order it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_executive_theory
Trump is a clear and present danger to national security.
MLZ: “Easy, Fair, and Honest.” Your proposal is none of those things. Suppressive is the only accurate adjective that comes to mind.
Again, WE elect speciflc people to vote for, and elect the president. THEY are called ELECTORS. We organize the American Citizens in National Districts @ 1 Elector Per 740,000 Citizens of the State. Those citizens go to vote inside that District to direct the Elector which candidate to vote for, then the Elector also gets to vote for an Alternate Candidate (someone from outside the State Borders). The Candidate that gets 50% of the Electors,Plus 1 More, becomes President. Learn the RULES. It is FAIR, HONEST, EASY. It protects the Rural Americans v Urban Americans.
ONLY “QUALIFIED” American Citizens can vote in each State – In South Dakota you must be fully domiciled, own property (home, land, Rent), placed your Motor Vehicles in the State (registration), Deposit Your Income in the State (Bank, Credit Union, Trust), Join a Church inside South Dakota’s political subdivision, and become a Registered Voter in the Precinct under the County of Your Domicile, and you cannot be registered in any of the other 49 States.
“WE” control our own process, and Congress controls the Time, Place, and Manner of which the Electors go to vote.
Again, Donald Trump is a career criminal.
Mr. Zitterich, tighten up your bloggings. Reel your spectrum disorder back, grab it by the short hairs and yank, yank it back sir, so you can cease to CAPITALIZE random words. What does your doctor say about that business? Does she tell you to stay off the internets? Clearly, the internets create shadows on your brain during the night time hours, and cause this capitalization acting out.
Prolly costs you a couple junky car sales a year, too.
Donald Trump is not a career criminal, you democrats do not have a full deck.
Great blogging, Mr. Zitterich. Tight.
Hey, I see there are many fellows with mullets down in the area where Mr. Mike, who is from Iowa, lives.
What is your take on their haircuts. grudznick loves them.
Caucuses. The haircuts are about the caucuses, Mr. Zitterich. I’m saying, the fellows with the most interesting haircuts will dominate the caucuses. That is grudznick’s current thesis work.
Giving rural voters a disproportionate influence over elections makes a lot of sense if you know where your food comes from.
Here’s our old pal praying on his savior’s career criminality.
https://sibbyonline.blogs.com/sibbyonline/2020/11/whistleblower-in-arizona-attended-democratic-meeting-that-outlined-adding-35000-fraudulent-votes-for.html
Mr. Trump is facing 91 criminal indictments since leaving the White House. Most people would call that a career number.
Add in 56 criminal acts while running for president and as president. https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/president-trumps-staggering-record-of-uncharged-crimes/.
From the 1970s until he was elected president in 2016, Donald Trump and his businesses were involved in over 4,000 legal cases in U.S. federal and state courts, including battles with casino patrons, million-dollar real estate lawsuits, personal defamation lawsuits, and over 100 business tax disputes. (Penzenstadler, Nick; Reilly, Steve (July 7, 2016). “Donald Trump: Three decades, 4,095 lawsuits”. USA Today. Retrieved April 11, 2023)
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/its-time-to-abolish-the-electoral-college/
Larry is a typical Democrat trying to use fear mondering Tactics, the Electoral College cannot over represent the people, nor under represent the people, as it is very much proportioned across the United States. Each State is promised to have equal representation of the “Same” number of Congressional Districts. Because each “State of People” is promised to have at least one representative per every 30,000 American Citizens of the State (minimum), and each State is to be represented by at equally by having two representatives in the U.S Senate, this means, the People of South Dakota are promised to broken into 3 National Electoral Districts to appoint or elect Presidential Elector, and South Dakota has the constitutional duty to apportion those “Electors” as it so chooses. The ELECTORS shall NOT take no oath, nor pledge to give ALL themselves to a National Popular Vote, nor to the State Popular Vote. Therefore, the People of South Dakota shall create 3 Electoral Districts – east,west, and there shall be central district also…Break the people of the “State” into 3 equal sized Electoral Districts of 300,000 State Citizens each. Each Elector gets to cast a vote per district, and they get to also vote for one candidate from outside the State, and the legislature shall vote to talley the # of votes of each district, and proportion them equally, certifying the result.
Mr. Zitterich clearly went to law school at Trump University.
Looks like it passed the House with many excused.
Directed to the South Dakota Legislature,
I am providing these public comments, ahead of discussion related to House Concurrent Resolution 6001 – in the spirit of debate, I am encouraging the State of South Dakota, a free, independent, and sovereign Republic of “people”, that I am hoping to encourage public discussion all across the “State” to be held in every county, every precinct, every legislative district. By holding public meetings by means of holding Precinct Committee Meetings, County Meetings, Legislative District Meetings, there should be a Task Force that includes at least one member from each of the Legislative Districts, and at least one “Citizen” from each of the S.D Counties to which allows for the people to discuss future composition of South Dakota’s Electoral College of Delegates.
The Electoral College cannot over represent the people, nor under represent the people, as it is very much proportioned across the United States. Each State is promised to have equal representation of the “Same” number of Congressional Districts. Because each “State of People” is promised to have at least one representative per every 30,000 American Citizens of the State (minimum), and each State is to be represented equally by having two representatives in the U.S Senate, this means, at the current congressional proportionments (740,000), the People of South Dakota are promised to broken into 3 National Electoral Districts to appoint or elect Presidential Electors, and South Dakota has the constitutional duty to apportion those “Electors” as it so chooses. The ELECTORS shall NOT take no oath, nor pledge to give ALL themselves to a National Popular Vote, nor to the State Popular Vote. Therefore, the People of South Dakota shall create 3 Electoral Districts – east,west, and there shall be a central district also…Break the people of the “State” into 3 equal sized Electoral Districts of 300,000 State Citizens each. Each Elector gets to cast a vote per district, and they get to also vote for one candidate from outside the State, and the legislature shall vote to tally the # of votes of each district, and proportion them equally, certifying the result.
Each of the constituted Political Parties – Republican, Democratic, and any such established party organized under the State each get to ‘elect’ or appoint electors as through their organizational by-rules, as such, toste appoint, or elect one elector from each of the legislative proportioned districts. The Legislature shall have the ability to carry out, and enforce state statutes governing over Presidential Electors, and each Elector shall be bound to their “District Rules, Codes, and Qualified Voters”, while each get to to cast a vote for their alternate choice for President that must be a candidate outside the “State” political subdivision.
South Dakota’s Chosen “Electors” must be, and truly become a constituted Direct Representation of the Qualified Voters from it’s three National Districts, allowing the People of South Dakota to more accurately be represented in the National Convention.
Must be Goatzilla’s head goat roper…,
https://media.makeameme.org/created/hey-baby-i-azodij.jpg
Was it the mullet or just the magat eye candy that was so fascinating?
It pays to advertise, Goatzilla and Zit.
If it were possible and the oligarchs wouldn’t hijack a Convention of States a rewrite of the Second Amendment would be at the top of my list.
I look at the Electoral College much like I look at political assassination or coup d’etat. It’s evil. It steals votes away from the people and puts those votes into the hands of a murky group of political sycophants.
Unlike most of you, I once was on the ballot as an Elector, though i certainly wasn’t a sycophant. It was during my Trotskyite phase, where I volunteered as an elector for the Socialist Workers Party candidacies of Linda Janess and Andrew Pulley and collected signatures to get them on the South Dakota ballot. I was very disaffected from two-party politics and pretty interested in the SWP for about 9 months. I soured on it because they were too much like the modern Republican Party, particularly being, at that time, pretty retrograde on environmental issues, and also pretty kooky.
One thing I did was study up on what the electoral college actually did. In the unlikely event that Janness and Pulley actually won the most votes, I would have been required to go to Pierre and cast one of four votes at 12:00 noon on the date decided by Congress. I would have been paid a per diem to do that and get mileage. I could vote for whomever I wanted. I wouldn’t have had to vote for Janness and Pulley. I could have voted for George McGovern or Nixon or Wallace or anyone else. I found it strange, indeed, and actually evil, that my vote as an elector, no matter for whom I voted at 12:00 noon on the appointed day would substituted for and cancel out the votes that thousands of South Dakotans cast on election day.
Is that the sort of system we actually want? I find it a horrifying system, and one that we now know to be extremely flawed. I guess there has been a legislative fix due to Trump’s attempted coup, but, really, does South Dakota need three people (as of now) to cancel out their votes? I continue to find it horrifying.
The Electoral College is, at best, 50 rounding errors added together to elect a president.
Bench, that’s the statistical way of looking at it. But I look at it from the point of view of each individual voter. People will go to the polls and vote for Biden or Trump or whomever, except they really aren’t voting for any of those people. It’s a hoax. They really are voting for largely faceless jackasses who are usually sycophants and hacks. Those people steal your vote away and vote for President. Your vote means nothing.
We have close elections in Wisconsin. So you think your vote means something, except if you vote for the wrong person. So let’s say 51% of people vote for Biden and 49% vote for Trump. Biden gets 100% of the electoral votes. If you voted for Trump, your vote was stolen, not by Democrats, not by Biden, not by Zuckerbucks, but by the Electoral College. In Wisconsin, the election can tip either way and it’s always close, so your vote seems to mean something, until the Electoral College votes, then it may mean nothing. Think of how that feels. In South Dakota, where it’s more likely to be 62% Trump, 38% Biden, those Biden supporters have their votes stolen by the Electoral College. They might as well not have voted. Think of how that feels.
Bench’s “rounding error” has vast implications when it comes down to how voters feel about their government. The Electoral College creates unnecessary division and unnecessary drama,. When you realize it’s all a hoax it makes you want to pick up a gun. In a world where voters are supposed to matter, they really mean nothing. This country is a gigantic hoax.
ALEC owns Pierre and before that it was the TEA party and before that is was the JBS.
https://alec.org/model-policy/draft-statement-of-principles-for-presidential-elections/
Donor’s Trust controlled Jason Gant.
“NEW: The Center for Media & Democracy has obtained & published Peter Thiel’s private fdn’s latest IRS filing. The filing shows that the fdn has $28.6 mil in assets. Largest grant of $1.4 mil went to DonorsTrust, the notorious dark money ATM of the right.”
https://x.com/duboo/status/1745192534739976487?s=46
Cory has covered ALEC extensively but here’s a tag from South DaCola.
http://www.southdacola.com/blog/category/alec/
The Organization of Peoplehttps://www.siouxfallscommunitychronicle.com/we-the-people-sd
https://www.siouxfallscommunitychronicle.com/we-the-people-sd
That the Zittiots want another civil war is hardly surprising.
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/30/929609038/how-electoral-college-came-to-choose-the-president-of-the-u-s
Donald, I am well aware of how meaningless my vote for president is. It has never mattered in determining the outcome because I have never lived in a swing state. The closest thing would be 2016 and especially 2020, where my vote helped underscore–via the popular vote–the fact that more people don’t want Trump to be president than do.
I take exception to your use of the words “hoax” and “stolen.” The Electoral College is written into the constitution and we all should have learned how it works in primary school. Don’t get me wrong, I think the EC is an abomination, but there is no trickery or deception involved, the rare faithless elector notwithstanding. In South Dakota (or Pennington County at least–dunno if it’s statewide), our ballots even say you’re voting for electors, not president & VP, and lists the names of the electors you’re voting for. It sucks and I really wish it wasn’t this way, but that’s how it is and nobody is stealing my vote.
Jason Gant. BuwahahaHAHAHAHA! There’s a fellow from the days of recent yore that was even funnier than Ms. Monae.
Bench, “Abomination.” Fine. I agree that the Electoral College is that, too. You notice, though, the ads you see on TV don’t say, “Vote for the Electors for Donald Trump.” People never talk about whether the electors have the character you would want for an elector. Why are voters choices in some states diluted or in other states magnified by the numbers of representatives and senators a state has in Congress? I don’t care if it’s in the Constitution. It ought not be. It seems to be a violation of one person, one vote. Why doesn’t someone submit a lawsuit, and have the goddamn thing extinguished?
The change we need can be incremental.
Start by eliminating the “winner take all” awarding of state electors. We could easily create an elector slate with proportional representation of the actual outcome, instead of giving a 51% winner all 100% of the votes.
I think it’s time.
Let’s support a compromise, one elector for Grudznick, two for the National vote winner, Biden in November.
Agree with Pay, yes the electoral college rips off the minority vote. Rewrite the Constitution for proportional representation.
Electoral college is 1789 madness and needs to go.
Remember we live in a state that supports Orbitan and Putin loving Trump. Says a lot about how many people feed on lies and live by lies.
Trump could serve as President from Gitmo if convicted of espionage and showing Top secret documents to unauthorized people and foreigners.
Republicans would try to add Guantanamo as 51st state. Then in 2028, Trump become the elector of Gitmo if he gets majority of the vote for Gitmo. Democrats could float a compromise, Puerto Rico as #52, Gitmo as #51.
South Dakota’s 2020 election shows a majority here believes lies.