DC Statehood Green Party calls for Electoral College vote proportional to popular vote, citing the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The DC Statehood Green Party is calling on Electoral College members in eleven states to assert their constitutional mandate by proportionally allocating their electoral votes for president.
Statehood Greens cited the Malapportionment Penalty Clause of the second section of the 14th Amendment pursuant Title Two Section Six of the United States Code (2 U.S.C.§6) in their appeal to electors in the eleven states who are pledged to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson.
The eleven unbounded states are Alabama (with 3 electors pledged to Ms. Clinton), Arizona (5 for Clinton), Georgia (7 for Clinton, 1 for Mr. Johnson), Indiana (4 for Clinton, 1 for Johnson), Iowa (3 for Clinton), Michigan (8 for Clinton), North Carolina (7 for Clinton), Pennsylvania (10 for Clinton), South Carolina (4 for Clinton), Tennessee (4 for Clinton), and Wisconsin (5 for Clinton).
Election codes in the eleven states do not specify a "Winner Take All" statute that explicitly awards all of the state's presidential electors to the candidate who receives the majority of the votes cast in a state.
In the absence of "Winner Take All" in state election code, the plain text of Section 2 of the 14th Amendment mandates proportional allocation of presidential electors according to the percentage of the popular votes cast in the state.
Electors pledged to Ms. Clinton and Mr. Johnson in the eleven states have constitutional standing to demand the award of presidential electors according to the percentage of the popular vote cast for their candidates.
Electoral College members will meet in their respective state capitols on Dec. 19 to cast their votes.
"Per the Malapportionment Penalty Clause of the Second Section of the 14th Amendment pursuant Title Two Section Six of the United States Code (2 U.S.C.§6), on Dec. 19, electors pledged to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson will suffer an abridgement of their votes," said Asa Gordon, chair of the DC Statehood Green Party's Electoral Task Force.
A retired astrodynamicist, Mr. Gordon is also executive director of Douglass Institute of Government and secretary general of Sons & Daughters of United States Colored Troops. He received the 2016 National Civil Rights Conference "Civil Rights and Justice Award" in recognition of his promotion of the post-Civil War voting rights legacy of the U.S. Colored Troops.
Mr. Gordon intends to file a civil Writ of Mandamus to compel the National Archives and Records Administration Office of the Federal Register to (1) inform the unbounded state governors and electors before Dec. 19 that their Certificates of Votes must abide by the 14th Amendment's mandate to allocate the states' electors in proportion to the popular vote cast, and (2) rectify any discrepancies between the Certificates of Ascertainment and the Certificates of Vote for unbounded states in conformity with the 14th Amendment's mandate requiring proportional allocation of electors.
"This is not a campaign to elect Hillary Clinton President. This legal action is about assuring the electoral integrity of US democracy and our political system," said Justin McCarthy, representative for the Statehood Green Party.
"The United States' first-past-the-post electoral system has entrenched a dysfunctional bipartisan system fundamentally disconnected from the American people. More importantly, first-past-the-post in the eleven states legally violates the Constitution’s Malapportionment Penalty Clause," said Mr. McCarthy.
DC Statehood Green Party leaders said that, because of malapportionment of presidential electors in violation of the 14 Amendment, the final count of 306 electors for Donald Trump and 232 for Hillary Clinton must be held invalid. Correct apportionment would subtract 62 votes from Mr. Trump, add 60 to Ms. Clinton, and add 2 to Gary Johnson.
The DC Statehood Green Party is an affiliate of the Green Party of the United States. 2016 Green nominee Jill Stein and running mate Ajamu Baraka didn't receive enough votes to qualify for an elector in any state.
The Green Party's national platform endorses abolition of the Electoral College, enactment of Ranked Choice Voting and Proportional Representation to replace first-past-the-post and at-large election systems, repeal of state ballot-access laws biased in favor of the two major parties, and other reformsto ensure fairer and more democratic elections.
See also:
Neo-Redemption Gerrymandering of the Electoral College, Suffer Loss of Representatives to Congress
By Asa Gordon, Green Pages, Summer 2013
http://greenpagesnews.org/
Taxpayer Voter ID Act would allow more citizens to vote
By Asa Gordon, Green Pages, Summer 2014
http://greenpagesnews.org/
This Long-Lost Constitutional Clause Could Save the Right to Vote
By Richard Kreitner, The Nation, January 21, 2015
http://www.thenation.com/
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