Revisiting the 2000 election.

This is a painful topic, so we'll keep it short.

Gore won more popular votes, but the Constitution specifies that the president be determined in some other manner. The Electoral College and all that goes with that (procedures, standards, and apportionment of Representatives, which is determined by "ordinary" law).

We're not fans of the current system (we'd prefer Electors voted as each congressional district does, plus two votes for however the state went overall), but the rules are the rules.

Which brings us to the issue of how those Electors voted in 2000. For there is an interesting provision in the Constitution, the 12th Amendment, which reads in part:

The electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves;

This is meaningful because both George W. Bush and Dick Cheney look like they were inhabitants of the same state (Texas). Republicans brushed this issue off, noting the Cheney changed his voter registration from Texas to Wyoming.

Not so fast!

Where you register to vote isn't the best standard for determining where you reside. A better one is what you declared when filing Federal tax forms. However, those are one year behind, and all that we'd know is that Cheney lived in Texas in 1999.

It's a shame that there isn't a generally agreed upon, nation-wide standard to determine where you reside.

But wait! There happens to be one. It's called the Census, and fortunately coincided with the election year of 2000.

So, where did the Cheney's say they resided when they filled out the form? If it's Texas - the likely possiblity - then none of the Texas electoral votes may be counted.

Or perhaps Cheney filled the census forms for both Texas and Wyoming. In that case he violated the law:

Title 13, Section 221 (Census, Refusal or neglect to answer questions; false answers) of the United States Code reads:

• (b) Whoever, when answering questions described in subsection (a) of this section, and under the conditions or circumstances described in such subsection, willfully gives any answer that is false, shall be fined not more than $500.

posted by Quiddity at 8/17/2002 09:44:00 PM