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A theoretical possibility that the election outcome is unclear when Trump’s term ends.
In exactly two months the presidential elections of the United States will take place. Many will probably claim that this is the most exciting American election in a long time.
The current Republican president, Donald Trump, has already begun to question the legitimacy of the American electoral system. He has repeatedly stated that he does not necessarily want to acknowledge the outcome of the elections.
Also read: Video draws attention: – This recording is a gift for Trump
The president is particularly skeptical of voting by mail, a move that will prevent further spread of the infection by voters that will accumulate in polling stations on November 3.
It has been speculated that delays in the count and disagreements over the election result may lead to no clear election outcome before Trump’s presidency expires in January.
– A theoretical possibility
If that happens, in theory it will be the speaker of the House of Representatives who will act as acting president. Today, it is Democrat Nancy Pelosi who holds this office, and there are many indications that Democrats still have a majority in the House of Representatives after the November 3 elections, which are also elections for Congress.
US expert Hilmar Mjelde, principal investigator at the NORCE research center, says the scenario cannot be ruled out.
– It’s a theoretical possibility, yes. Trump’s first presidential term ends at 12 noon on January 20, 2021. If the Electoral College has not named a winner, either Trump or Biden, the leader of the House of Representatives will take office until further notice, he says. Mjelde to Nettavisen.
– If the Democrats keep the majority in the House of Representatives, as they probably do, it will probably be Pelosi in that role, says Mjelde.
Another scenario could be that the Democrats elect a president other than Pelosi after the elections, who in this scenario will take over as interim president, or that the Republicans regain the majority and assume the leadership position in the House.
The Electoral College elects the President of the United States. The assembly consists of 538 voters and 270 electoral votes are required for a presidential candidate to ensure victory in the presidential elections.
– It happened in 1876
– What does it really take for the election result to be delayed so long, Mjelde?
– That there is uncertainty about who won certain states. It happened in 1876 (the choice between Hayes and Tilden’s editor’s note). It wasn’t clear then who had won Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina. In 2000, it was not clear who won Florida, says Mjelde, referring to the election between Al Gore and George W. Bush.
Hayes was victorious in 1876, one of the most controversial elections in American election history, while Bush became famous after the chaos in Florida.
– If the Electoral College does not name a winner, the House of Representatives will take over and decide. Then each state would vote together, and whoever gets a majority of 26 state votes will be president until January 20, 2025, he says.
In fact, it has happened that the Electoral College could not nominate a winner, and that it was up to the House of Representatives to decide the winner of the elections.
– That happened in 1800, yes, and the 12th constitutional amendment of 1804 was adopted to solve this, although it has not been a perfect solution either, says Mjelde.
At the time, it was Thomas Jefferson who ultimately ended up in the presidency.
Opposes voting by mail
This week, President Trump came out and urged his supporters to commit crimes by voting twice, first by mail and then by physical attendance at the polls. The president thought that this could be a good way to “test” the system that will reveal electoral fraud in the vote by mail.
Also read: Trump asked his followers to break the law and vote twice
– Will Trump’s call for a double vote be a contributing factor to a possible delay in the election result, Mjelde?
– The big challenge is that state authorities are not bad at handling this in all states. And Trump has actively opposed the abolition of voting by mail, the opposite of what you would expect from a president, he says.
– May have leadership on Election Night
There is no evidence that voting by mail is vulnerable and exposed to voter fraud, but it can present other challenges.
– Most likely Trump will take the lead on Election Night, because he encourages people to vote at the polls, but then Biden will accept it when mail-in votes come in, because Democrats ask people to vote by mail . We may have a winner / president on Election night and another winner / new president later in the week. We saw what a goat rodeo was like in Florida in 2000, but the country is much more divided and much angrier now, so this scenario scares me, says Mjelde.
Also read: Warns about Trump’s deceptive election day victory
Recently, a so-called prediction model was created that predicts that Trump will appear as a clear winner on Election Day itself, while it actually turns out to be Biden who clearly wins as mail-in votes are counted.
President Trump is a few heads behind Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in most polls.
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