Faithless Elector

By Lee Presley

The 2016 election has just ended with the incumbent president winning by a landslide in the popular vote, but trailing in the Electoral College by two votes. One side will do anything to preserve this gap while the other will do anything to close it. From Election Day to the certification of the Electoral College vote by Congress, both sides fig

• Language: English
• Publisher: White & Gold Press
• Release date: Feb 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798986211138

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One

November 9, 2016

Wednesday

The president began her day as usual with the security brief and was told that the attack on Iran was imminent. All she could tell the team was timing was everything, and that she wanted to be in the Situation Room when the attack began.

Her next meeting was with the reelection team to address what happened yesterday. Scott Kelly started the meeting with the good news, It will be by a slim margin, but the Democrats will control both Houses of Congress for the next two years. This was greeted by applause and cheers.

He turned to the presidential race next. Well, I would like to thank all of you for the great job you did. The people spoke and at last count we are almost seven million votes ahead. Currently we are down two in the Electoral College vote. We have to assume that our lead in Virginia will hold. The Reed team has petitioned the Virginia State Board and the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond per the law. That recount will start later today, and we have people on the ground. Wisconsin will need to flip in the recount, right now the certified difference is less than one thousand votes out of over 2.7 million. We have filed our petition and again that count starts today, and our observers are in place. The whole world will be watching, so the Reed team would be stupid to try something. Because of the scrutiny this recount will receive it could take a long time.

The president asked, Scott, is there anything else we can do?

No Madam President, we will just have to wait it out.

As the meeting was breaking up, the vice president asked President Francis if he could have a moment alone with her and her husband. Giving him a quizzical look, she said, I’ll call and have him come down from the residence.

When the three were seated in the Oval Office enjoying coffee and small talk, the president finally said, Hector, what is running through that mind of yours?

Well, I wanted to run something by you two that will have to stay just between us.

They both nodded yes, and Rich said, Okay, you have our attention.

I want to discuss a plan if the worst-case scenario happens, and we lose the election by two Electoral votes. Instead of accepting it and turning the country over to Mr. Reed, I believe we do something to change the outcome.

Now you really have our attention, President Francis responded.

‘When I was in law school, I became fascinated with the Electoral College system and why America didn’t just pick a president and vice president by popular vote. It became almost an obsession. You don’t have to say it; I know there were plenty of other things I should have been obsessed with at that time living in San Diego, but I was so amazed how our Founding Fathers were able to write a document like the Constitution that could stand the test of time for over two-hundred years but seemed to get it so wrong on this one part. I researched it and wrote papers on it, while driving my professors’ nuts with questions. I know you both had constitutional law classes, so I won’t bore you with the details."

Rich jumped in and said, Bore away, it was a long time ago for me and I was never that fascinated with it.

"Like most things back in that day, it came about because of a compromise and this one had to do with slavery. Southern states liked how the Electoral College would work because they would have more electors and smaller northern states liked it because they would not be overwhelmed by states with large populations. Two amendments later we have the system we are under today.

When the public sees the Electoral-vote count on TV they assume that it is final and they know who won, and if there is a big spread then that is the case. However, if it’s tight, like we have now, that’s when it gets interesting. Almost always the electors, all five-hundred-thirty-eight of them, vote as they pledged to do, but they don’t have to. As you know, each candidate has a slate of electors for each state and the District of Columbia, made up of loyal party members and friends. I’m sure President Francis that you are convinced that in the states you won all of your electors will vote for you as they promised."

Of course.

But on occasions electors have voted differently or not voted at all, they even have a term for this – faithless electors. What I’m saying is that if the numbers don’t change, we need to find two Reed electors that can be inveigled to change their votes.

Rich asked, Wouldn’t they be breaking the law?

Not really. The majority of states have laws that make it illegal to change their votes, but they are never enforced. They would be ostracized by their party and vilified by the media and others, but they would not face penalties. Besides, we could look for electors in the states that have no laws on the subject, just to be safe.

President Francis asked, How would we find Republicans that would support us?"

Well, Reed is not a normal Republican and there are plenty on that side that he has pissed off over the years.

Rich added, And there are some that have skeletons in their closets that they wouldn’t want to come out.

The president asked, Rich, do you really think this is something we should even be talking about?

He answered, This election is too important for the country to let it slip away, and remember, you won the popular vote by more votes that I did in either of my wins. Also, the way that nut talks he will have us in wars before he figures out where the bathrooms are in the White House.

She asked them both, What would happen if we did this and it came out that we were behind it?

Hector answered, We will have to be extremely careful and cover our trail. No matter what there will be plenty on the other side that will say we stole the election, we will just have to weather the storm until it blows over. While this is happening, we will be governing the nation.

President Francis responded, Hector, thanks for the idea but I need to think about this one. Let Rich and I talk, and we’ll get back to you. Remind me, what day is it that the electors vote?

December 19.

Okay, we have a little time to think about it. You were right, for now this stays between us, I don’t even want to tell Scott Kelly about it.

Both men said understood at the same time.

The Constitution of the United States was conceived in September 1787 and delivered nine months later in June 1788 when it was ratified. If necessity was its father then compromise was its mother, because only through compromise could thirteen diverse, opinionated, and independent states agree on rules to unite them. Every state received something, and no state received everything. Challenged, changed, cursed, and commended it remains one the most important documents ever written.

One of the major problems confronting the convention to draft the Constitution was how, for the first time, to elect the president and vice president which would represent the nation and not an individual state. It had been determined that the two Houses of Congress would be filled by different methods, the Senate would include two members from each state, where as the House of Representatives would be based on the population of each state. The states that had large slave populations wanted their slaves to be counted in the population, thereby giving them greater representation. The Three-Fifths-Compromise settled the matter by allowing slaves to count as three-fifths of a person. Since slaves were certainly not going to be allowed to vote in an election, if the president and vice president were elected by popular vote the southern states would lose some of the power they had just gained by the Three-Fifths-Compromise.

The next compromise was the Electoral College. Each state was left to its own decision as to how it would select a slate of electors in a number equal to the number of representatives plus its two Senators. These electors would then vote for the president with the person that came in second becoming vice president. This allowed the southern states to keep the advantage they had gained in the House of Representatives in the Electoral College as well. All of this was described in Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 and 3. Additionally, Clause 2 excludes anyone holding a federal office from serving as an elector. Other than that, anyone can be an elector. The states can determine how electors are chosen however they decide. Each candidate names a slate of electors in each state, these are usually made up of their party’s state officials and people loyal to the candidate.

Over time, the rules were changed by the twelfth and twentieth Amendments. No longer does the person that comes in second become the vice president, now the electors vote for a president and a vice president. By law, the electors now meet in their state capitals, or in the District of Columbia for its three electors, on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December to cast their votes. For 2016 this will be December 19. Nine days later the Electoral votes must be received by the president of the Senate. On January 6, 2017, before a joint session of the new Congress held in the House chambers, the votes are counted, and the president and the vice president are declared by the president of the Senate which is also the current vice president. During the count, any member of Congress can object to any state’s vote. The objection must be in writing and signed by a member of the House and the Senate. If this were to happen the vote is suspended and each House debates the objection in its own chambers. If both Houses vote to accept the objection than that state’s votes are thrown out. If no one receives the necessary majority of two-hundred-seventy Electoral-votes the House of Representatives goes into session and elects the next president based on one vote for each state. On January 20, 2017, at noon the president, however chosen, takes the oath of office.

Debate over the Electoral College system continues to this day. Those in favor of continuing it believe that it gives rural areas more of a say than the popular vote would. In addition, they claim that the current system forces candidates to focus on the entire nation, not just the coasts. Also, they feel it supports the two-party system the nation has gravitated to.

Those in favor of converting to the popular vote argue that it goes against the one-person one-vote concept and majority rule. Also, because the majority of states have become so entrenched with one party, the candidates focus a disproportionate amount of their time and money trying to sway voters in the swing states. Without this focus, they argue, then every vote in every state would count, thereby increasing voter turnout. Another argument is that since each state, regardless of population, receives a minimum number of three electoral votes, these smaller states have an inflated importance in the election.

During the Nixon administration the Electoral College system came the closest to being eliminated. The House of Representatives passed legislation to replace it with the popular vote, and the proposal was endorsed by the president. However, the Senate’s version of the bill never made it to a vote on the floor, thus killing the effort.

The American markets were up and down like a roller coaster all day. The expert talking heads gave reasons when they went one direction only to have to come up with other ones when they went the other way, most finally gave up and attributed the day’s movements to uncertainty. By the end of the trading day, the Dow Jones was down four points.

Mr. Reed held a press conference late in the day from his office in San Francisco. In his prepared remarks he stated that he worked all day on the short-listing the people he wanted in his cabinet. He explained that his team had people on the ground in Virginia and Wisconsin to ensure that the Democrats didn’t try to steal the election. He also let everyone know that President Francis had not called to concede, he said he was sure she was waiting on the recounts to be completed and he would savor it when the call came. The questions from the reporters were banal and predictable, and the answers were uninformative and cliché.

After the confrontation with Selena last night, Elaine Webb had dressed and immediately left. On what should have been one of the best days of his life, Mr. Reed felt tired instead of euphoric. He tried calling Selena several times while he emptied a bottle of scotch, but she never took his call. He spoke to someone on the staff, and they told him she made it home and went directly to the bedroom. After pushing from Reed, they finally admitted that she was intoxicated when she got home.

He tried many times today to reach her, with no luck. He finally gave up and decided to let her get over it as she wanted.

Two

November 10, 2016

Thursday

President Francis’ morning security briefing did not reveal any new threats or issues that seemed important or imminent. As the Secretary of Defense was leaving, he whispered to the president that she would be needed in the Situation Room at 2:30 this afternoon. She nodded as she left the meeting for the Oval Office. The vice president had beat her there and was waiting with Rich. As she walked in, she told of them that she would have to reschedule their meeting, there was some pressing business she needed to address right now. They both rose and left without a word. Sitting down at the Resolute Desk, the president began to draft what she would say to the American people and the world after the conclusion of the action in Iran. She prepared two, one if things went well and one if they did not.

Sticking to her schedule for the day, so not to raise any suspicions, the president had lunch with members of the Democratic National Committee at a restaurant near the White House. The luncheon was closed to the press, but the president agreed to take some questions after it was over.

The first question was, Why have you not called President-elect Reed to concede the election? from the local ANT News reporter.

The president answered, Why would I concede something that is not decided? The count in Wisconsin is so close it could go either way. Mr. Reed hasn’t called me to congratulate me on winning the popular vote by almost seven million votes.

The next question was, Before the election you said that Iran would be punished for what they did in Dubai, why hasn’t anything happened?

Well, it’s complicated and things like this take time to put into motion. We’ll do what is appropriate at the appropriate time. We also want to notify our allies before we do anything so there is no confusion.

If you do wind-up losing the election, do you have any plans for the future? was the next question.

I am only planning on being the president of the United States for the next four years. And with that she left for the White House.

Mr. Reed saw the footage of the president’s comments and set up an impromptu press conference of his own. This wasn’t hard since members of the press were always at ReedTech’s office hoping for a comment. He started by telling them that someone needed to inform the current president that the Electoral College vote determines the winner, not misguided votes in a couple of large states that are full of liberals. He also explained that it would probably be up to him to settle the score with Iran after he took office, since it looked like the current president didn’t have the heart for a fight. He told everyone not to worry, when he became president, he would not forget the humiliation the Iranians had given us, and they would pay for it. As Santayana said, Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it well, I have a great memory and I remember what Iran did and they will not repeat that again.

The punishment to Iran was designed to limit US casualties, limit Iranian collateral damage, and send a clear message to the world that actions like Iran took would not be tolerated. The targets were four, twelve Silkworm missile launchers, the ship that had participated in the Dubai attack, a major refinery in southern Iran, and the high value target the Iranians were blaming for the attack. The missiles to protect our vessels, the ship so there would be a clear connection to the Dubai attack, the refinery so there will be economic hardship on the Iranian government and personal hardship on the Iranian people, and the hardliner to give the Iranian government someone to blame.

Operations had already begun when the president entered the Situation Room at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time which was 1:00 a.m. in Iran. The first action was to take out the person the Iranian government identified as the rouge hardliner behind the attack. A satellite was positioned to transmit video of the farmhouse the target and his security detail were located. Constant drone and satellite coverage confirmed that the target was still at the house.

The US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, with support from the United Kingdom and Australia, was the primary force in today’s action. Based out of Manama, Bahrain, the Persian Gulf was its most important area of operation and a vital sea lane to keep open. A carrier strike group was given responsibility for the engagement as it cruised the Gulf south of Iran.

The first act was a guided-missile destroyer launching a Tomahawk Cruise Missile at the farmhouse. With GPS navigation and a fixed target there was no question as to the outcome. The two-million-dollar missile caries a thousand pounds of explosives which annihilated the farmhouse and anyone in its immediate proximity. The satellite would continue to transmit video of the area but there was no doubt that the first step of the attack was successful.

The second phase was carried out minutes later when twelve more Tomahawks were launched at Silkworm anti-ship missile sites along Iran’s southern coast. A combination of Navy SEALs, and GPS satellites had pinpointed the exact location of all twelve launchers for the six-hundred-fifty mile per hour missiles with an explosive payload of over four- hundred pounds, capable of disabling or sinking any ship in the Gulf. With these missiles out of action the Navy now had no worries of Iranian counterstrikes, if they wanted to send out their aircraft against ours it would be no contest.

The third phase of the attack involved American Delta Force operators being on the ground in Iran. To facilitate this while maximizing the safety of the two volunteers, they would parachute in under the cover of darkness. The actual technique they used is called High Altitude-Low Opening or HALO. For added security, their plane was flying along with commercial flights over the Gulf at an altitude of thirty-thousand feet when they jumped. Reaching terminal velocity, over three-hundred miles per hour, they utilized GPS to reach their landing zone inland near the port city of Bandar Abbas.

Their mission took them to the Hormuz Refinery, located on Iran’s southern coast. At three-hundred-thousand barrels per day, this refinery is one of Iran’s largest and produces products for domestic consumption and export. Shutting down this refinery, even for a limited time, would lead to a lack of gasoline and diesel inside Iran and a loss of revenue for the government. The plan called for a surgical strike on the refinery targeting its six Distillation Columns which perform the first step in the refining process. To take out these columns, and minimize collateral damage, the Delta Force operators had to mark them with lasers that the bombs selected for the mission could follow. By the time the president was seated in the Situation Room the two operators were in position in the hills overlooking the refinery.

Hours earlier, a B-2 stealth bomber left Whiteman Air Force Base in Washington Township, Missouri. The two-man crew piloted the three-quarters of a billion-dollar aircraft, one of twenty in service, eastward to Iran. Even with a range of seven-thousand miles they would have to refuel in mid-air twice to complete the mission. Armed with Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM bombs, there was no doubt that the refinery would be seriously crippled if the operators on the ground could guide them to the exact locations.

At 2:55 Eastern Time the operators began marking the base of the columns with lasers that the JDAMs were synchronized with. The B-2 crew released a bomb locked onto the lasers and repeated the process until all six were away. The B-2 loitered on position to await confirmation that the mission was successful. Within minutes the bombs exploded, and six fire balls were burning were once the columns had stood. Sending a prearranged signal, the B-2 was released to fly home and the operators began to work their way to the coast and their way home.

A drone transmitted video of the refinery directly to the Situation Room before the bombing. For safety refineries are illuminated throughout the night and this made for an excellent view on the screen. Since the operators on the ground and the crew in the B-2 were not communicating by radio, everyone had to wait for the first explosion to know what was happening. Then like clockwork the other five bombs detonated. The military men in the room looked at each other and the president with obvious pride in what they had just witnessed. The president said, Great job gentlemen, but we still have some work to do, and we have to get some incredibly brave men home safe.

In case there was any mistake that all of this was tied to the Dubai attack, the last action was to sink the ship that was to transport the terrorist after they had completed this attack if they had lived. The ship was still sitting at a berth in the port of Bandar Abbas since the day of the attack. This final portion of the mission would be carried out by the Navy SEALs.

To get to the port and the ship undetected the team of four used a SEAL Delivery Vehicle which works like a small electric powered submarine. The version the team used was a Mark 8 Mod 1that has a crew of two and can carry four passengers. The plan called for the SEALs to retrieve the two Delta operators before they returned to the ship they had deployed from. The SDV contains compressed air so it and the passengers would be able to remain submerged except for the time when the two operators were retrieved.

The SEALs made it to the ship undetected and attached magnetic limpet mines below the water line. They then proceeded to a desolate, rocky section of the shoreline for the rendezvous with the operators. While the SDV was on the surface, two of the SEALs swam on to shore to retrieve their passengers. At this time, over a mile away, the mines exploded sending the ship to the bottom of the port, leaving only the highest portion of the ship protruding above the water level.

When they arrived at the SDV, one of the Delta guys said, You expect us to ride underwater in that thing?

The SEAL team leader told him, Trust me, it’s a lot worse than it looks. If you prefer, we will take you back to shore and you can see how an Iranian prison looks.

The Delta hesitated but finally climbed on-board. When they were safely on board the surface ship, they both swore they would never be in an SDV again, next time they would take their chances swimming.

The drone was repositioned so everyone in the Situation Room could see the ship sitting on the bottom. They then sat around for a half an hour until confirmation that the SEALs and Delta men were safe was received, then a cheer broke out in the room.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs thanked everyone for their outstanding work and explained to the president that this mission was textbook, and he had never been involved with one that went this well. He compared it with the ill-fated mission in 1979 to rescue the embassy hostages in Tehran, where everything went wrong. He said, I guess the War Gods owed us one.

The president thanked them all and said if there was any way she would love to meet the pilots, SEALS, and Delta men that pulled this off. She cautioned them to stay on alert, no one knew how Iran would react despite giving them the location of the hardliner.

Intending to get out in front of this before the Iranians, the president scheduled to meet with the press corps at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time in the Brady Press Briefing Room in the West Wing of the White House. It would still be the middle of the night in Iran, so she would have the benefit of time and the ability to establish the narrative before Iran could respond to what had happened. To soften the blow, she chose to give the briefing herself without aid of others who were involved in the mission – particularly military personnel. She knew that all of the facts would come out over time, but they seem to be less inflammatory if they came out piecemeal instead of all at once. Always the politician, she wanted to give Iran a way to save face to some degree, and for them to let this be the end of the situation. She had taken the extra step of calling Iran’s Ambassador to the UN and asking him to watch and convey to his government that as far as the United States was concerned, this was over.

Amazingly in this time of the Internet, mostly because of the time difference and government control, little information was coming out of Iran, yet. The press room was full in anticipation of breaking news about the election, the prevalent rumor was that President Francis, for some unknown reason, was going to concede. Network evening news shows were already slotting time to cover the announcement.

Having heard the rumor, President Francis’ first words from the podium were, "I am not here to concede the election and I have no intention of ever having to do that. What I am here to do, is to inform my fellow Americans and the world that the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces and our allies, struck back at Iran today in retaliation for their heinous attack on our Consulate in Dubai. Our actions were proportional and measured, designed to minimize loss of innocent life, while at the same time sending a clear message to the government of Iran and the people of Iran that actions like the Dubai attack will not be tolerated. We want the government of Iran to understand that as far as America is concerned this sorry chapter in our relationship is closed, however, we will be vigilant and prepared to do whatever is necessary to prevent another tragedy like Dubai.

As I’m sure you will hear much more about tomorrow, in one aspect of today’s mission Iran provided us with information identifying Hassan Bagheri, a rouge hardliner in the government, as the leader behind the Dubai attack. With intelligence help from Iran, I can report that Bagheri was eliminated today by a Cruise Missile strike. Hopefully, this will send a message to other hardliners that the governments of the United States and Iran will not tolerate this behavior.

Also, ships traveling through the Persian Gulf no longer will be making the trip under the threat of Iranian anti-ship missiles. Twelve launch sites threatening the Gulf were eliminated today.

If you recall from the Secretary of States’ presentation at the UN, there was a ship waiting in the Persian Gulf to take the Dubai terrorist back to Iran, that ship is now resting on the bottom of the port of Bandar Abbas.

One last element of today’s mission was to cripple the Iranian refinery near Bandar Abbas. This refinery is one of the largest in the country and important for internal fuel production as well as export. While this refinery is out of commission, Iran will feel the economic pain.

I want to thank everyone that participated in this mission and I’m glad to report that there were no American or allied casualties, and those of Iran were minimized. This was a well-planned surgical strike carried out to near perfection by incredibly brave individuals who I hope I have the honor of thanking personally. I will not be taking questions today and I refer you to the State Department and the Pentagon for the details."

Instead of the usual questions being shouted from the press as the president walked out, they broke out in applause and cheers.

The national press was divided in its take on the president’s announcement, most said the US response was measured and appropriate while some on the right said that it was not nearly enough, with the most vociferous calling for nothing less than the complete annihilation of Iran. Additionally, the argument of how much effect the attack would have had on the election generated almost as much discussion.

The press cadre that was seemingly camping out at the ReedTech facility were able to convince Mr. Reed to answer a few questions as he was leaving the building.

He felt that President Francis didn’t go far enough and added that if this would have waited until he took office the outcome would have been far worse for Iran. He was surprised that the Iranian’s had given up one of their own and hoped that this was sign that they were finally coming to their senses. When asked what he had been working on, he responded that he was focused on selecting his cabinet and one of the most important positions was Secretary of Defense. He was looking for someone that thought like he did and was willing to send a message to those wanting to do us harm. He assured everyone that his choice would send a message to the bad guys around the world.

Three

November 11, 2016

Friday

The only reaction from Iran to the attack was their acknowledgment that they had worked with America in the elimination of Hassan Bagheri, the explanation was that he was working to undermine the government of Iran for his own personal agenda. They stressed that this should be a lesson to any Iranian that went against the government, they were even willing to work with the Great Satan to assure that their decisions would be followed by all Iranians.

Responding to the reaction from Iran, the American markets opened with substantial gains across the board with the Dow rising four hundred points within the first hour. Since the election, the markets had been stagnate, with no clarity as who the president would be there appeared to be no direction and no news to move them either way. The Iran news finally gave them something positive to focus on.

Following Veteran’s Day tradition, President Francis laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. The somber reflective ceremony was executed with grace and dignity. Leaving the cemetery some of the press asked the president for comments on Iran. She politely replied, "This