When surrendering doesn't matter

[andrewducker]

Technically, an election isn't over until the electoral college meets on  December 13, 2004 (the Monday after the second Wednesday in December).

At that point they will vote according to the results in their home states.

Kerry may have conceded defeat, but he can still be made President.

It _is_ unlikely though.

Comments

[laserboy.livejournal.com]

Let's hope it happens.

[rainstorm.livejournal.com]

I don't want to get my hopes up..

[robhu.livejournal.com]

It looks pretty damn unlikely. I think it was smart for Kerry to concede at this point, he has clearly lost - contesting it up until the last possible point would have caused a lot of distress that would be blamed on him.

[derumi.livejournal.com]

People in America can make a difference more than once every four years. There are people who represent us that we actually directly elect. Yet, we never write to them or ask them to do anything for us. We'd rather get up once and vote each November, and complain bitterly in between.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

Kerry may have conceded defeat, but he can still be made President.

No. Because official vote counting stops when one candidate concedes defeat. The results now on the table are the only official results that anyone has to acknowledge.

[andrewducker]

Aaah, darnit. So by condeing Ohio he's got them to stop counting the votes.

Well, that's a kick in the teeth for the people that went to the trouble of getting themselves votes despite not being registered to do so.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

Well, that's a kick in the teeth

Yeah. It's a kick in the teeth for all the voters who stood in line for six hours because so long as they joined the line of people waiting to vote before the polls closed, they could still vote.

Democracy in the US: the beta version.

[kurosau.livejournal.com]

Actually, he has to officially withdraw from the race. The concession that Kerry has made isn't an official one. The electoral college still counts.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

The electoral college still counts.

But the electoral college can make a decision based on the count when they stopped counting. And they can stop counting when one candidate concedes.

[kurosau.livejournal.com]

That only counts if his concession is actually valid and official. His concession is still just the traditional phone call about winning, it isn't an official withdrawl, ergo, they keep counting.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

His concession is still just the traditional phone call about winning, it isn't an official withdrawl, ergo, they keep counting.

That isn't what happened last time.

[kurosau.livejournal.com]

I don't know this for certain, but to my knowledge, the last election was stopped by an act of the supreme court, not an act of concession on the part of Gore. However, I was wrong, and Kerry did officially concede the election, last I asked someone.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

, the last election was stopped by an act of the supreme court, not an act of concession on the part of Gore.

But the point at which they stopped counting was when Gore conceded. They re-started again when he unconceded.

[missedith01.livejournal.com]

Is that true? They don't bother to count the votes?

No ... you've got to be kidding. You're kidding, right?

And here I was thinking I was finished with outrage for the day ...

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

No ... you've got to be kidding. You're kidding, right?

No. I was outraged too when I found out that in the US they don't bother to count all the votes - that's why the pressure is on for one candidate to concede. But I found this out 4 years ago when the 2000 US elections were such a mess, so it's an old tired "yes, that's outrageous, but that's what happens when you stick with the beta version" outrage.

[kurosau.livejournal.com]

No, it's not strictly correct. There is a concession procedure that is followed, at which point Bush would win because Kerry withdrew, accepting defeat based on current vote estimates. What yonmei doesn't mention is that Kerry has not officially conceded, so the votes are still counted until he does.

[thefirethorn.livejournal.com]

hmmmmmmmmmm...........

Unlikely. But we can all *dream*