At 11:28 AM 11/8/00 -0500, Trei, Peter wrote:

It looks like Gore has won the popular vote, and that Florida is more likely to tip to Bush than to Gore. If this happens, the show is not necessarily over.

If Bush wins Florida, and Gore wins Oregon, the electoral college will stand at Gore 267, Bush 271. You'd expect that King George the Second would rule. But....

In most states, electoral college electors are bound by law to cast their votes in favor of the candidate who won their state. But not all - in some states (which ones? I don't know) electors can legally vote their conscience. A Libertarian presidential candidate got an electoral vote a while back in this manner.

If three of these 'unbound' electors are in states which went to Bush, and decide to 'follow the mandate of the national popular vote' they can flip the election.

Interesting times.....

I am just wondering what they do if it comes down to an actual *tie* in Florida. Personally I would like to see the two candidates fight to the death in a tub of raw sewage with a couple of rusty sporks. (Not that they will do something sensible like that...) The coming gridlock could be the best thing to happen to the country though. --- | Terrorists - The Boogiemen for a new Millennium. | |"The moral PGP Diffie taught Zimmermann unites all| Disclaimer: | | mankind free in one-key-steganography-privacy!" | Ignore the man | | | behind the keyboard.| | http://www.ctrl-alt-del.com/~alan/ |alan@ctrl-alt-del.com|