Political Quotes

“Last Friday the House and the Senate met to fulfill our solemn constitutional responsibility to count the votes of electors for President and Vice President. This year the joint session was confronted with a record number of so-called faithless electors-- electors who were supposed to vote for the Presidential candidates named on their States' ballot, but, instead, voted for someone else. Different States handle their faithless electors in different ways. In my view, the joint session rightly fulfilled its constitutional responsibility by simply taking the certified results of each State without intervention. This was in line with precedent set in 1969 and with the text of the Constitution. Because I believe this decision to be correct, I did not file an objection during the counting process. However, I wish for the Record to contain my views on this matter and to express my concern that an avoidable constitutional crisis on this subject is a very real possibility in the future. The faithless elector problem has often been seen as academic, but in 2000, Vice President Gore was three faithless electors away from the Presidency. As a point of reference, there were 10 faithless electors in this election. Thus, this is not a matter that should be taken lightly. Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution gives the States the exclusive power to appoint electors in a manner decided by their State legislatures.…”