Adjustments in the US electoral process
The US electoral system is complex and even picturesque in some details. It is based on a deep-rooted tradition that is imposed on the irrationality of some situations. Many believe that it should be tinkered with, but almost no one risks proposing it, let alone trying to do so. The memory of the founding fathers of the Philadelphia Constitution continues to wield much power.
These days, on the anniversary of the revolt promoted by Donald Trump's supporters in front of the Capitol, a few comments have been published on this desirability. They are timid comments (no one seems to want to open such a melon) that may provide arguments in passing for the inconceivable initiative of 6 January 2021.
Trump and his strategists tried to justify their rebellion by claiming that Congress has the power to overturn an election even after the Electoral College has been constituted and the president appointed, and that it should do so. They started from the "Trumpist" fallacy of fraud in the recounts. Legally, they relied on the clause that determines the possibility of annulling the vote count.
This is a 19th century Act which effectively contemplates that Congress has the power to override a majority of the electors of a State. In other words, Congress can impose itself on the majority of the electors. Someone in Trump's entourage must have remembered its forgotten validity and raised the former president's hopes that the elections would be annulled.
No one, beyond the former president's hooligans, took seriously this possibility that the law does indeed offer. But what happened a year ago, a truly unusual occurrence in such a consolidated democracy, has served as an argument for some to recall the convenience of reviewing this text, the application of which is unprecedented.
Remaining faithful to the spirit of the law does not prevent its text from being revised and, if necessary, adapted to the new times. The Constitution of the United States remains intact, but is subject in practice to several amendments with constitutional status. This is one of the conclusions reached by some analysts who believe that the electoral process does indeed need to be updated.
There are many reasons for doing so, among them the importance of computers in the counting process. Two hundred years ago, counting votes and transmitting data was a task that lent itself to situations that, today, however obstinate Trump may be, are ruled out. And seeking access to the White House through a coup d'état, even less so. The pathetic spectacle survives from that.