Seeing this flying around right now, and while yes, we have a wannabe fascist sitting in the WH right now, I highly suspect this is being leaked to instill the very panic your'e feeling right now because #SCOTUS just ruled, this summer, 9-0, AGAINST "faithless electors." [1/?] https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/1308842135546986504

That panic is designed to instill a sense of hopelessness, and to discourage you from voting because "what's the point?" This campaign "announcement" is intentional. [2/?]

In Chiafalo v. Washington, #SCOTUS held (AGAIN 9-0) that "a State may enforce an elector’s pledge to support his party’s nominee—and the state voters’ choice—for President." In this case, 3 WA electors refused to cast their votes for Hillary Clinton despite her winning WA. [3/?]

WA fined each of them $1000 according to state law, and the electors challenged those fines. They lost their court case every step of the way. [4/?]

This is a long standing precedent BTW. #SCOTUS held that States can compel electors to support the candidate who wins the popular vote of that state. See Ray v. Blair, 343 U. S. 214 (1952). The question in Chiafalo was whether States can also penalize "faithless" electors. [5/?]

The 9-0 decision handed down *July 6, 2020* was "yes, they can." From Chiafalo: "States began about 60 years ago to back up their pledge laws with some kind of sanction. By now, 15 States have such a system." [6/?]

"Almost all of them immediately remove a faithless elector from his position, substituting an alternate whose vote the State reports instead. A few States impose a monetary fine on any elector who flouts his pledge." [7/?]

"States began in the early 1900s to enact statutes requiring electors to pledge that they would squelch any urge to break ranks with voters...electors are not free agents; they are to vote for the candidate whom the State’s voters have chosen." [8/?]

"The State instructs its electors that they have no ground for reversing the vote of millions of its citizens. That direction accords with the Constitution—as well as with the trust of a Nation that here, We the People rule." [9/?]

There is a LOT being thrown at us right now...I would argue intentionally so. But a sudden wave of faithless electors is very unlikely, and even if it happened, they will meet an 8-0 (or potentially 8-1) end at #SCOTUS. [10/?]

Don't let panic overwhelm you into not voting or giving up. Vote. In person if you can. Sign up to be a poll worker. Don't freak yourself out over scenarios that are extremely unlikely. [11/?]

All of that said, I am, and have almost always been, a supporter of abolishing the Electoral College, but that is a conversation for another day. [12/12]

#Vote