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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 12, 2020 01:58 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Russ Diamond |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Appointing Presidential Electors |
In the near future, I intend to introduce a joint resolution to exercise the General Assembly’s plenary authority to appoint presidential electors in response to significant activities contravening the Pennsylvania Election Code, which tainted and doomed the appointment process in its entirety and caused Pennsylvania to fail to select presidential electors on the day prescribed by law. (1) Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the US Constitution empowers state legislatures to direct the manner of appointing electors for President and Vice President of the United States. The General Assembly has done so via the Pennsylvania Election Code. (2) Pennsylvania’s judicial and executive branches issued decisions and guidance that contravene the Pennsylvania Election Code prior to the 2020 General Election. Election officials in certain PA counties acted upon those decisions and guidance, and took further actions that contravene the Election Code, during the 2020 General Election process. (3) As such, the 2020 General Election process, which purports to have selected presidential electors was unlawful, void ab initio, and the results thereof invalid. As a result, Pennsylvania has failed to select presidential electors on the day prescribed by law in 3 U.S. Code § 1. (4) 3 U.S. Code § 2 states "Whenever any State has held an election for the purpose of choosing electors, and has failed to make a choice on the day prescribed by law, the electors may be appointed on a subsequent day in such a manner as the legislature of such State may direct." (5) When acting under 3 U.S. Code § 2 to appoint presidential electors after such a failure, the General Assembly has plenary authority under Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the US Constitution. (6) The plenary authority to appoint presidential electors is a provision of the US Constitution, not the state constitution, and the General Assembly would be carrying out a federal, not state, function. (7) Under the supremacy clause of the US Constitution, fulfilling the federal function to appoint presidential electors with plenary authority cannot be limited by provisions of the state constitution or state statute. This would include provisions dictating the times and/or meeting places of the General Assembly, for the purpose of exercising its plenary authority. I invite you to join me by cosponsoring this joint resolution, the proposed language of which is attached. |
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Introduced as HR7