Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Crom Carmichael to the studio.
During the second hour, Carmichael discussed election status and the legal provisions as outlined in the United States Constitution. These specific provisions explained in his view, why the postmaster general was concerned about problems that could arise due to the lateness of mail-out and absentee ballots.
Carmichael: This is why I say that Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party have become the party of lawlessness. By the way, Joe Biden has not condemned Hillary Clinton for saying what she’s said. He has said nothing about it. That’s gone viral. So you have to assume that Joe Biden agrees with it. But here’s what’s interesting. Here is an article in The Wall Street Journal by David Rifkin and Lee Casey. And they write a lot in the journal.
And all of them are constitutional types of columns. And here is what it says, Under federal law, the presidential election must take place on November 3. The reason it takes place on November 3 this year is that the Congress has said that the election will take place on the first Tuesday after the first Monday.
Leahy: Right.
Carmichael: And so the first Monday is November 2. That’s why the election moves around. It’s always on a Tuesday and its always on the Tuesday following the first Monday. So it cannot be November 1.
Leahy: Cannot be.
Carmichael: Cannot be.
Leahy: Could be November 2 to November 9.
Carmichael: But then there is a set period of time between the election and when the electors must be chosen. And that’s by the Constitution. That’s by the law that the Democrats claim that they believe in the rule of law and that no one is above the law.
Leahy: And what is that set period of time? Does it vary by state?
Carmichael: No. No. Under federal law the election this year is on November 3. And because it’s on November 3 this year the electors must vote on December 14.
Leahy: There it is.
Carmichael: December 14. I think its six weeks. It says these dates cannot be changed without an act of Congress and the 20th amendment sets the inauguration day on January the 20th. The Constitution’s 20th amendment does that. Reading on.
Article two of the Constitution gives Congress the power to determine the time of choosing the electors and the day on which they shall give their votes. Which day shall be the same throughout the United States. So they can’t do it on different days.
Leahy: It has to be by December the 14th.
Carmichael: On December the 14.
Leahy: And they meet in their state capitols.
Carmichael: But it’s on December 14. It’s not by then.
Leahy: But just to continue this, the legal wrangling that will happen will continue in my view from November third until December 14.
Carmichael: That’s OK. But Hillary says months. She says months.
Leahy: It can’t be by law.
Carmichael: And the law which Hillary claims to revere and which Nancy Pelosi’s right-hand claims to revere. (Leahy chuckles) So Congress has done so by enacting laws mandating that electors of president and vice president shall be appointed in each state on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November. That’s the election.
And that the electoral college must meet and vote on the first Monday after the second Wednesday. Now, this is a little confusing but it is very precise. The first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. That’s how this year’s December 14 becomes the date.
Leahy: Got it.
Carmichael: There was a Supreme Court case Foster versus Love which I’ve never heard of, in 1997 taken together with the mandate of the relevant provisions “holding all elections for Congress and the Presidency on a single day throughout the union.” Now, this is why that matters. Because the election is on November the 3rd.
Voters can’t vote after November the 3rd. So if ballots come in after November 3 and there is no postmark because return mail that’s already pre-stamped does not have postmarks, then it comes in. So that’s why the postmaster general said the problems will come only because of the lateness in which absentee ballots can be requested.
Or, the lateness at which ballots are mailed in. That’s the problem. He said we will handle the mail. But we don’t set the rules on what constitutes a legal vote. And so the Democrats want to keep counting votes after the third.
Leahy: They want to keep counting and counting.
Carmichael: But that’s not what the law says they can do.
Listen to the full second hour:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “People Voting” by Wyofile. CC BY 2.0.
