The Dangers of a Contingent Election with Beau Tremitiere and Aisha Woodward
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 30 October 2023
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We are a little more than a year out from the 2024 election—an election that, in countless ways, promises to be unlike any other. One way it may be different is the very real prospect of a scenario in which neither major party candidate secures enough electoral votes to win, kicking the decision to the House of Representatives in what is called a “contingent election.” Possible third parties are actively discussing the possibility of a contingent election as part of their political strategy—and this talk has many experts and advocates nervous about what chaos the turn to a contingent election might wreak.
To talk through what this scenario might mean, Lawfare Senior Editor Scott R. Anderson sat down with Beau Tremitiere and Aisha Woodward of Protect Democracy, which recently released a report—and published a related piece in Lawfare—on the topic. They walked through how a contingent election would work, how it might end up subverting the democratic process, and what alternatives might be out there for those less than content with the two-party status quo.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising to access an ad-free version of the LawFair |
| 0:07.2 | podcast become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash LawFair, that's patreon.com slash |
| 0:16.9 | LawFair. Also check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, rational security, chatter, LawFair |
| 0:25.6 | no bull and the aftermath. Any number of states could fail to reach a decision and may not |
| 0:37.4 | be able to submit a vote in favor of one or another candidate, which would effectively disenfranchise |
| 0:43.5 | the people in those states as well. So I think it's really important to zoom out and think |
| 0:48.3 | about those concerns in the moment where we are at present. We had an election in which tens of |
| 0:56.1 | millions of people doubted the outcome when all objective observers were quite clear that voting |
| 1:02.5 | was done safely and securely and there was a clear victor. In this sort of scenario there could |
| 1:08.1 | be this enormous disconnect between how people in the electorate voted and how that's translated |
| 1:14.8 | into the selection of a president and that is profoundly concerning given where we are in this |
| 1:20.6 | democratic moment. I'm Scott Aranderson and this is the LawFair podcast for October 30th 2023. |
| 1:28.5 | We are a little more than a year out from the 2024 election, an election that in countless ways |
| 1:33.8 | promises to be unlike any other. One way it might be different is the very real prospect of the |
| 1:39.5 | scenario in which neither major party candidate secures enough electoral votes to win, |
| 1:44.0 | kicking the decision to the House of Representatives in what is called a contingent election. |
| 1:49.2 | Possible third parties are actively discussing the possibility of a contingent election as part of |
| 1:53.2 | their political strategy and this talk has many experts and advocates nervous about what chaos |
| 1:57.7 | the turn to a contingent election might wreak. To talk through what this scenario might mean, |
| 2:02.5 | I sat down with Bo, Tremartier, and Aisha Woodward of Protect Democracy, an organization that |
| 2:07.6 | recently released a report and published a related piece in LawFair on the topic. They walk |
| 2:11.9 | me through how a contingent election would work, how it might end up subverting the democratic |
... |
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