The little-remembered presidential election of 1960, like the still-controversial election of 2020, featured a slate of alternate electors.
But in the case of the 1960 election, these alternate electors were accepted. In 2020, they weren’t.
In the aftermath of the 2020 election, alternate Republican electors from several battleground states have faced criminal charges for their role in the plan.
Specifically, some of former President Donald Trump’s proxies sought to have then-Vice President Mike Pence declare the results from several contested battleground states facing allegations of fraud as illegitimate and send them back to the states, at which point alternate electors could be certified.
But it was an earlier, successful slate of alternate electors that established the precedent that the 2020 plan relied upon.
In 1960, a slate of alternate electors for Democrat John F. Kennedy came from Hawaii where, due to irregularities in the vote, a recount had been ordered by a state judge. The initial count found that Kennedy had won; a second recount found that then-Vice President Richard Nixon had won.
But the Hawaii recount wouldn’t finish until after the Dec. 19, 1960 deadline to submit electors.
Republican Lt. Gov. James Kealoha, the acting governor at the time, faced a situation where his state’s votes might not be counted at all—thus leaving Hawaiians to miss out on their first presidential election as a state.
At the time, Nixon was in the lead and appeared to have won the state. But the recount could have shown differently.
In order to meet the Dec. 19 deadline, Kealoha certified both slates of electors, sending both slates to Washington for the Jan. 6 recount.
Nine days later, the concluded recount found that Kennedy had indeed won; at that point, Kealoha sent a third certification to Washington, declaring that the alternate slate of Democratic electors should be accepted.
Nixon, who as vice president was to preside over the congressional gathering declaring himself the loser, quickly accepted these alternate electors. Nixon said at the time that he had no intention of setting a precedent by unilaterally making the decision.
Sixty years later, history nearly repeated itself as Republican electors from seven states sent alternative electoral certifications to Washington amid allegations of election fraud.
This time, the alternate slates were rejected; by that point, governors and other officials from the contested states had sent only a single slate of electors—namely, in the case of the contested ballots, Democrat electors.
Some Republicans argued that the process of certifying electors in the contested states was unconstitutional, as that power is given to state legislatures, not secretaries of state.
Democrats argued that because each of the official results had been certified by the governor, there was no dispute to adjudicate.
It was that argument that prevailed on Jan. 6, 2021, when Congress voted to certify President Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election.
—Joseph Lord
(Left) President Joe Biden speaks in Wilmington, N.C., May 2, 2024. (Right) and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Waukesha, Wis., on May 1, 2024. AP Photo
DEBATES SET
Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden have agreed to face off on stage in the earliest general election debate ever televised.
The candidates are set to confront each other for the first time this election cycle on June 27. In 2020, the first debate was held much later, on Sept. 29.
The debate will be held at CNN’s studios in Atlanta, Georgia, a key battleground state for the November election. It was decided that no audience will be present “to ensure candidates may maximize the time allotted in the debate.”
“I’ve received and accepted an invitation from @CNN for a debate on June 27th,” Biden announced in a post on X on May 15. “Over to you, Donald. As you said: anywhere, any time, any place.”
Trump replied on Truth Social, saying it was his “great honor to accept the CNN Debate against Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST PRESIDENT in the History of the United States and a true Threat to Democracy.”
The two also agreed to a second debate to be hosted by ABC on Sept. 10.
“I’ve also received and accepted an invitation to a debate hosted by ABC on Tuesday, September 10th,” Biden said in another post on X. “Trump says he’ll arrange his own transportation. I’ll bring my plane, too. I plan on keeping it for another four years.”
Trump likewise announced in his Truth Social post that he had accepted his invitation to the ABC debate.
This earliest-ever debate comes amid what is also the longest general election season the country has seen in a while, with both men effectively running as incumbents.
The Biden campaign sent a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates earlier on May 15 saying the president would not take part in the commission’s planned debates, preferring earlier debates prior to the early voting period in many states.
The Trump campaign also sent a letter to the commission in April, noting they preferred earlier debates as well.
In the letter, Trump said that he would prefer a debate with a large audience rather than a one-on-one, while Biden requested that no audience be present. Trump nevertheless acceded to CNN’s decision not to have a live audience present.
To qualify, CNN required candidates to have formally submitted a Statement of Candidacy with the FEC, as well as requiring that each candidate who debates be on enough ballots to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who isn’t on enough state ballots to meet the 270 threshold, wasn’t mentioned.
In a post on X, Kennedy accused Biden and Trump of “colluding to lock America into a head-to-head match-up that 70 percent say they do not want.”
“They are trying to exclude me from their debate because they are afraid I would win. Keeping viable candidates off the debate stage undermines democracy,” he said.
But in a later post to X last night, Kennedy announced that he would meet CNN’s criteria to appear in the June 27 debate before CNN’s June 20 deadline—meaning that he could be on track to appear alongside the two presidents.
—Joseph Lord and Chase Smith
BOOKMARKS
Lily Greenberg Call, a Jewish staffer in the Department of Interior, has resigned over the Biden administration’s support of Israel. Her resignation letter made reference to Biden’s “disastrous, continued support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a slight dip in inflation rates for the month of April. The news was especially welcome as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell had recently expressed concern that inflation had not slowed since January.
The Supreme Court threw out a voter redistricting map in Louisiana, restoring the previous district lines. The new map, which eliminated a majority-Black district, was criticized as “racial gerrymandering.”
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot in Handlovia, Slovakia on May 15 following a government meeting. Police were able to apprehend the gunman, but no identity has yet been released.
The U.S. government has halted funding to a nonprofit that furthered gain-of-function research in Wuhan. EcoHealth Alliance has 30 days to appeal, or face lengthy disqualification from future grants.
