It’s Basically Over. And Yet It’s Just Starting.
By Lawrence Lessig
It’s all-but over. Monday, 306 officially appointed presidential electors cast electoral college votes for Joe Biden. As importantly, zero competing electors in key swing states cast votes for Donald Trump under the purported authority of their rogue state legislatures or governors. Though the President’s drumbeat of fraud continues, that means the election is essentially over. Even Mitch McConnell has recognized the victory. Democracy has prevailed.
Thank you for your support to safeguard the election. As many of you know, with your help, we produced a huge volume of op-eds, explainers, and a 10-part podcast with a deep dive into presidential selection, which were relied on by campaign insiders and the media to make sure all routes for undermining democracy were shut. And the Supreme Court case about presidential electors we brought ended with the key idea that, when it comes to presidential elections, “We the People rule.” That too shut down many avenues of democratic subversion.
But we found many holes and vulnerabilities in the system. So, as we wind the year down, can you chip in to help support our future efforts to reform the system of presidential selection? We got through 2020. But we must improve things for us, for our children, and for future generations. There are too many leaks in our dam to continue just patching things up every four years.
In the meantime: we at Equal Citizens are now ready to move on to the new key fight in democracy reform: the Georgia senate runoff elections. Make no mistake: campaign finance reform and voting reform are on the ballot there. We can’t wait to tell you more about our new campaign this week.
Thanks again for your support and for holding fast to our democracy. It mattered. And it will keep mattering.
P.S. Some people have asked about several sets of Trump electors also casting supposed “ballots” in key swing states, even without any legal authority. As I explain here, these are called “alternative slates.” As even they acknowledge, these Trump electors have no legal authority to represent their states, and their electoral votes won’t be counted absent some extraordinary court decision that somehow favors Trump in multiple states. That won’t happen. Trump’s legal challenges have all failed, and the cases are winding down, not ramping up. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over them, but it does mean that things aren’t technically all over. Only when Congress counts the votes on January 6 will Biden’s win be absolutely official.
