ELECTION INTEGRITY2020’s ‘Fake Elector’ Schemes Will Be Harder to Try in 2024 – but Not Impossible
Electors will gather across the United States in December 2024, just weeks after the election, and formally cast votes for president and vice president. They will send their votes to Congress, which will count them and determine who received the most votes. Typically, the casting of electoral votes is little more than a ceremonial process. But the last time this process happened – in 2020 – it was anything but typical.
Electors will gather across the United States in December 2024, just weeks after the election, and formally cast votes for president and vice president. They will send their votes to Congress, which will count them and determine who received the most votes. Typically, the casting of electoral votes is little more than a ceremonial process.
But the last time this process happened – in 2020 – it was anything but typical.
In seven states, in addition to the official electors, others calling themselves electors met and purported to cast votes for Republican Donald Trump on Dec. 14. They did this even though Democrat Joe Biden had carried their states in the November election. They sent their votes to Congress just like the official electors. When the electoral votes were counted on Jan. 6, 2021, some in Congress argued these purported alternative electoral votes meant the outcome of the election was still in doubt.
Many of those purported electors now face criminal prosecution. Some may be convicted. And the odds of purported electors trying again in 2024 are less likely – but still possible.
These other electors labeled themselves “contingent” electors, arguing they could be the “true” electors if lawsuits Trump’s campaign filed to dispute the results ultimately went Trump’s way. Some of these other electors drew an analogy to Hawaii’s disputed presidential election in 1960. While Republicans carried Hawaii, a recount was underway when the electors met, and both Republican and Democratic electors sent their votes to Congress. The recount ultimately went Democrats’ way, and Congress counted the votes cast by Democrats.
In 2020, Republican electors in two states, New Mexico and Pennsylvania, sent certificates that expressly included contingency language. The certificates said their votes would be cast only in the event a legal proceeding declared those electors the true electors. This language appears to have saved them from prosecution.
Opponents and detractors have labeled them “fake” electors, because they lacked any state authority to act while presenting themselves as something genuine. These opponents note that Hawaii’s 1960 election had a real recount underway, and there was no serious litigation in any state in 2020 when the electors met. Almost all cases had been dismissed by Dec. 14, and a few pending appeals had no realistic chance of success. The sole purpose of these electors’ actions, opponents argue, was to sow distrust and confusion.
