Van Jones is WRONG: the Laws Governing the 2020 US Presidential Election
Channel: T. Greg Doucette
Date: 2020-11-17

By now millions of people have watched Van Jones’s TED Talk on concession speeches, and his explanation for how Donald Trump could stay in office…

…except Van is totally, completely, unavoidably wrong!

In this video, we walk you through the Constitution and laws governing presidential elections in the United States, including how those electoral votes are counted – and why there is no scenario where a Republican ends up being President on January 20th.


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EXPERTS TO READ
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Congressional Research Service on counting electoral votes (published 15 November 2016): https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL32717/12

Law Professor Edward Foley on disputed presidential elections (published Winter 2019): https://lawecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2719&context=luclj

Scott Anderson on resolving contested presidential elections (published 23 October 2020): https://www.lawfareblog.com/how-resolve-contested-election-part-3-when-elections-fail


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CONSTITUTION AND STATUTES TO READ
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Constitution Article I, Section 5: https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/article/article-i#article-section-5

Constitution Article II, Section 1: https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/article/article-ii#article-section-1

The 12th Amendment: https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xii

The 20th Amendment: https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendment/amendment-xx

The Electoral Count Act, 3 USC §1-17 (start here, then click "next" on each page to get to the next section): https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/3/1

The Presidential Succession Act, 3 USC §19: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/3/19


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PRODUCTION DETAILS
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Hardware –
* 2014 MacBook Pro (2.8 GHz quad-core Intel i7, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD)
* AverMedia PW313C webcam
* Blue Yeti microphone

Software –
* MacOS Catalina v10.15.7
* Apple Keynote v10.3.5
* ScreenFlow v9

Graphics –
* Thumbnail by @halberdrayne on Twitter


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ERRATA
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10:28 - The Supremacy Clause is in *Article VI,* not Article V (thanks Ryan S!)
16:43 - Among the qualifications to serve in Congress are living in the *state,* not living in the specific district (thanks Shane Wittig and Will Doby!)
18:05 - Adam Clayton Powell Jr ran for Congress in *1967 and 1969,* not 1977 and 1979 (thanks 
Skwrl Productions!)
44:51 - "if a state legislature appoints *electors* now," not if they appoint legislators