Judicial and Legislative Branch Involvement
The Contested Election of 2000 was resolved unlike any of the Contested U.S. Presidential Elections that had come before it. Because the race between Al Gore (Democrat) and George W. Bush (Republican) was so close, the Supreme Court's decision regarding how contested votes would be handled in this state (more specifically, they ruled that Al Gore's request for a recounting of votes in select counties in this state would not be granted) ended up being the deciding factor which allowed George W. Bush to be officially declared as the Presidential nominee.
What is Florida?
In the aftermath of the 2020 Election, this former President and 2020 candidate very controversially posted this:
"A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution"
On the social media platform Truth Social, and was met with widespread criticism and condemnation due to the illegitimacy of his claims of election fraudulence, as well as his suggestion that the alleged fraud constituted a "termination" of the U.S. Constitution.
Who is Donald Trump?
Despite the conspiratorial ties Southern Democrats may have tried to establish between the mainstream Republican party and abolitionist movements, Abraham Lincoln did not align himself with abolitionist ideals during the contested Election of 1860. Lacking concrete evidence to support their claims that Lincoln was an abolitionist, one Democrat-minded newspaper, The Democratic Review, alleged that Lincoln's "House Divided" speech had contributed to the kind of "extremist" ideals that had inspired fierce abolitionist John Brown to raid the armory in this town in Virginia (now a part of West Virginia) on October 16th, 1859 with the hopes of stealing weapons to arm enslaved people and freedom fighters.
What is Harpers Ferry?
In order to win the 2024 Election and avoid a "contingent election" in Congress, a Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate must each win this number of electoral votes, which constitutes a majority of the total 538 electoral votes.
What is 270?
Thomas Jefferson, who was elected President in the United States' first contested election (1800), was Vice President to this "founding father" during the Election of 1800.
Who is John Adams?
On January 6th, 2025, both houses of Congress will meet in a joint session to count the electoral votes. The President of the Senate will preside over the vote count and, in the event that the majority of electoral votes go to one Presidential candidate and one Vice Presidential candidate, will also announce who has been elected President and Vice President. The President of the Senate also holds this, perhaps, more well-known political office in the executive branch of the U.S. government.
What is the Office of the Vice President?
During the Election of 1800, the United States found itself in uncharted territory. Not only did the incumbent Federalist candidate, John Adams, fail to win the majority of the electoral votes over the rival Democratic Republican candidates, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr– meaning that, for the first time in U.S. history, presidential power would have to be transferred (ideally, peacefully) from one party to another – but the two candidates with the most electoral votes (Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson) were tied with an equal number of electoral votes each (73). While Burr had technically been chosen by the Democratic Republicans to be Jefferson's Vice President, Burr refused to concede to Jefferson after the electoral college tie, forcing the House of Representatives to break the tie and decide the election. Jefferson won the vote in the House of Representatives, making him the official Presidential nominee and Burr his Vice President. The contestation of the Election of 1800, which arose from the electoral college tie and Burr's refusal to concede, catalyzed the ratification of this constitutional amendment which, in addition to outlining many important guidelines for deciding elections, made it so electors would cast separate ballots for President and Vice President (allowing for the party "tickets" we are familiar with today).
What is the 12th amendment?
During the contested Election of 1800, former Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, included the below quote about the two leading candidates (who both had 73 electoral votes at that point) in a letter to Massachusetts Congressman, Harrison Gray Otis, in an effort to sway him ahead of the upcoming tie-breaking vote in the U.S. House of Representatives:
"_______ is in every view less dangerous than ______"
(in this quote, he refers to the candidates by their last names only)
Who are Jefferson and Burr?
State electors, who are chosen based on the popular vote in that state, usually pledge to vote for in accordance with their states popular vote. While the majority of states (officially backed by a 2020 Supreme Court Decision) have laws which require electors to pledge to cast their votes according to the popular vote, the issue of ______ electors -- electors who vote for someone other than who they pledged to vote for -- is not addressed in the U.S. Constitution nor any federal statute.
What are faithless electors?
Well known politician and climate activist Al Gore, who faced George W. Bush in the contested U.S Presidential Election of 2000, started his political career in a position similar to that with which Andrew Jackson started his: as a Representative for Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives (more specifically, representing the 4th and 6th districts of Tennessee in the 95th-98th Congresses). Al Gore's political legacy, while unlikely to be controversial in the same way Andrew Jackson's was, will likely be dominated by the controversies of the 2000 Presidential Election. In this sea of controversies, it can be easy to forget that Al Gore held the office of Vice President for the two consecutive terms of this former Arkansas governor's presidency.
Who is Bill Clinton?
Contestation of the 1876 Election began on election day and continued right up until the inauguration, as no winner could be determined due to conflicting results from Columbia, South Carolina; Salem, Oregon; Tallahassee, Florida; and New Orleans, Louisiana — leaving Congress with 184 electoral votes for Democratic candidate, Samuel J. Tilden, and 165 electoral votes for Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes, with 20 votes still disputed. These conflicting results, and arguments between the two parties as to what part of the legislative branch should be in charge of deciding the election, led to the creation of a (mostly) bipartisan Electoral Commission. This Electoral Commission would end up awarding the electoral votes from the states in question (OR, SC, FL, and LA) to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. The Electoral Commission was comprised of 15 members total, with 10 being chosen from the two chambers of the ____ branch and the remaining 5 being chosen from the ______.
What are the legislative branch and the Supreme Court?
In the event that no candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes, the 12th amendment to the U.S Constitution allows for what is termed a "contingent election". A Contingent Election has only been implemented twice under the 12th amendment: to elect the President in the Election of 1824 and to elect the Vice President in the Election of 1836. In a Contingent Election, the Constitution states that the _____ will elect the President, and that the ______ will elect the Vice President.
What are the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate?
Former President Donald Trump was indicted on four federal charges related to accusations that he participated in a plot to interfere with the peaceful transfer of executive power after losing the 2020 Presidential Election to current President Joe Biden.
In July of 2024, the Supreme Court ruled on Trump's appeal to dismiss the indictment, with their decision stating in their opinion that -- under the guidelines for the separation of powers outlined in the U.S Constitution -- "Former Presidents [are entitled] to absolute _______ from criminal prosecution for actions within [their] conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority".
What is immunity?
In the contested 1860 U.S. Presidential Election, Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln received no electoral votes from Southern states and, further emphasizing just how unpopular he was among Southerners, did not even appear on the ballot in many Southern states. Lincoln was still able to win a majority of the electoral votes and, thus, the election by "sweeping" the Northern states. Lincoln received all electoral votes from every Northern state except for this one state, which gave four of its seven electoral votes to Lincoln and the remaining 3 to Douglas (northern Democrat).
What is New Jersey?
Andrew Jackson, a candidate in the contested U.S. Presidential Election of 1824 who would later officially win the presidency in the 1828 Election, was the first man from Tennessee to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and a Major General in the War of 1812, gaining fame for his defeat of the British Army in the Battle of New Orleans. He also gained infamy, both during and after his time, for his seemingly unauthorized and murderous invasion of Florida (then a Spanish colony); his status as an owner of enslaved workers and supporter of slavery; and his leading role in the forced removal of ~ 50,000 Native Americans from their lands. Jackson was well known by a nickname given to him by his troops, which encapsulated his toughness by comparing him to this particularly strong type of tree.
What is a Hickory tree?
Ten U.S. presidential elections (if you exclude the upcoming 2024 Election), the President of the Senate was in charge of counting the electoral votes in an election that they were currently or had at one point been a candidate in. Out of those ten presidential elections, these two are considered to have been contested elections.
What are the 1860 Election and the 2000 Election?
If, in the event of a "contingent election", a President has not been elected by inauguration day (January 20th), the ____ amendment states that the Vice President-elect would act as President until a President can be elected. If the contingent election has failed to elect both a President and a Vice President by inauguration day, the ____________ Act states that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President pro tempore of the Senate, or a Cabinet officer (in that order) would act as President until a President or Vice President is elected.
What are the 20th amendment and the Presidential Succession Act?
After losing the Election of 1824, which had been decided by a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives due to the fact that no candidate had won a majority of the electoral college votes, Andrew Jackson was furious. In his anger, he alleged that these two people involved in the election had engaged in a "corrupt bargain":
1) the candidate who ended up being elected as President in the Election of 1824;
and
2) the Speaker of the House who went on to be Secretary of State for the aforementioned 1824 President elect. This man had also run in the 1824 Presidential Election, but had been excluded from the tie-breaking vote after receiving the fewest electoral votes.
Who are John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay?
Five of the 46 U.S. Presidents have been inaugurated after having lost the popular vote. In other words, in five of the 60 total U.S. Presidential Elections, the electoral college vote (which officially determines the election) and the popular vote were won by different candidates.These three elections, out of the five total elections that fit the aforementioned description, are considered to have been contested.
What are the Election of 1824, the Election of 1876, and the Election of 2000?
Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of State who was strongly anti-slavery, and had lost the Republican nomination for the 1860 Presidential Election to Lincoln due to his controversial actions and rhetoric -- such as a frequently quoted speech in which he spoke of the "irrepressible conflict" between the Northern and Southern states over the institution of slavery, fueling many Southerners fears about the true aims Republican party.
Who is William H. Seward?
Voting in the U.S. House of Representatives served as the "tie-breaker" in the contested Election of 1800. At the time of the vote, the House was controlled by this political faction, which counted Alexander Hamilton as a member.
Who are the Federalists?
The Voting Rights Act, an act intended to "enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution" (quote from the Voting Rights Act itself), officially outlawed discriminatory voting practices, such as literacy tests, which had been implemented in many Southern States to disenfranchise Black voters and effectively undermine the fifteenth amendment. The Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in the second year of his presidency, with that year being the 95th anniversary of the ratification of the fifteenth amendment.
What is 1965?
A demonstration held in Florida on November 22nd 2000 -- which was led by Republican staffers at a election canvassers meeting who wanted to protest a recounting of votes cast in the Election of 2000 -- was later named after this clothing brand, which opened its first store in New York in 1818 and has the mythical Golden Fleece as its logo, due to the "preppy" attire worn by many of the protestors.
What is Brooks Brothers?
In the U.S. Presidential Election of 1876, rampant voter suppression and the resulting contestation of election results paved the path towards the destruction of Reconstruction era amendments and the prolonging of the country's historic trampling of Black Americans' civil rights. After Election Day (November 5th, 1876), results in four states were undecided -- and these states' results continued to be contested after Congress counted the votes they had received from state electors, as each of these four states had submitted two sets of conflicting electoral votes.
What are Oregon, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida?
Republican Supreme Court Justice who served in the 1877 Electoral Commission, which was convened to decide the contested Election of 1876, after Justice David Davis, an independent, resigned from the commission to join the U.S. senate.