There was a conflict of electors in seven states: some for Biden, others for Trump

Monday December 14th electoral college confirmed the victory of the president-elect USA Joe Biden. But in several states where Biden won, Republican electors supporting President Donald Trump tried to appoint themselves as "alternate electors" and backed the current president. How it happened and whether Trump can stay in power, the newspaper said APNews.

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In seven states - Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico - Republican electors voted for Trump and are asking for their opinion to be taken into account.

But even this step will not lead Trump to victory. It was only the latest attempt by Trump and his allies to use the complex machinery of the US presidential election to sow confusion and doubt about Biden's victory.

Can these "electors" change the election results?

No, Biden won the election. He received more votes than Trump in 25 states and the District of Columbia, with a total of 306 electoral votes. These results were confirmed, and the governors of each state signed a list of electors who promised to vote for the winner. Republican "electors" have not been appointed by the governor and do not yet have legal status.

The next step is January 6, when both houses of Congress meet and confirm the electoral votes. A handful of House Republicans have already signaled they plan to object to the results. They need to find a Republican senator who can potentially force a vote in Congress on the election.

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But the existence of this alternative list does not change the facts in Washington - Democrats control the House of Representatives and have no intention of overturning Biden's victory. Trump simply doesn't have the votes to change anything.

Even in the Senate, which is controlled by the GOP, a fair number of Republican senators have voiced objections to Trump's attempts to cancel the election. This makes it highly unlikely that the House of Representatives will choose an alternative "elector" list.

If the Senate somehow votes for other "electors", it will not help Trump.

Federal law provides that voters appointed by the governor of a state have a casting vote.

“The existence of competing votes does have technical implications—Congress may have to act to override them,” said Edward Foley, a law professor at Ohio State University.

Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas, tweeted: “Don't be distracted by these ridiculous mock electoral votes - they won't change anything. Either way, without a majority in the House, all they can do is slow down the process.”

Has something like this happened before

In the 1960 election between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, the Republican governor of Hawaii assured the Republican electoral roll after Nixon won the state on an initial count. But the Democratic electors got together anyway and voted for Kennedy.

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Democrats were right, and when it came time for Congress to consider which electoral group to count, it chose Democratic. The decision was made by Nixon himself, who presided over Congress as the outgoing vice president.

The Pennsylvania Republican Alternate Voter List even cited the 1960 Hawaii case in a press release, stating that they were simply following the example of the Hawaiian Democrats.

“We took this procedural vote to preserve any legal challenges that might be brought in the future,” said Bernie Comfort, Trump's Pennsylvania campaign chairman. “This was in no way an attempt to usurp or challenge the will of Pennsylvania voters.”

However, there is an obvious difference—the outcome of Hawaii's election was effectively uncertain when the competing slates of electors were appointed. Biden won Pennsylvania by 80 votes, and all the cases in which the Trump campaign filed fraud claims failed. As a result, the governor of Hawaii sent both slates of electors to Congress. Pennsylvania's governor will only send votes for Biden.

Despite the fact that the final decision is made by Congress, his hands are essentially tied. After all, Congress, according to federal law, must accept the votes of those electors who were approved by the governors.

Under federal law, if there is equality between the two houses of Congress, ballots sent by the governors will be declared the winners. This is the ultimate guarantee that Trump supporters will lose because no list of alternate electors has been approved by the governor.

Another historical example is the election of 1876, when three states had competing slates of electors from both parties. This chaos led to the passage of a federal law outlining the procedure for Congress to accept or reject competing slates of electors, which would result in the rejection of any "alternative" ones.

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If it doesn't work, why did Trump supporters do it?

The motives behind this act are unclear. Trump and his allies have spent the past few weeks addressing legal issues that have little or no chance of success. But because he is losing every step of the way, Trump has managed to convince many Republicans that the election was rigged and that his second term has been taken away from him.

Fake Arizona electors sent votes for Trump

An Arizona group sent notarized documents to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., intended to deliver 11 state electoral votes for Donald Trump, writes USA Today.

Copies of the documents show that the group, which claimed to represent "sovereign citizens of the Greater State of Arizona," submitted signed documents that voted for a second term for Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

Resident Lori Ossetski, 62, helped create a facsimile of the certificate that is submitted for the formal electoral vote of each state.

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Ossetski said she and others associated with a group called AZ Protect the Vote attended post-election rallies to protest the results, including a one-day meeting in Phoenix that was attended by Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani.

11 electors in Arizona cast their votes for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris, officially cementing the Democratic victory.

The Arizona electors were able to carry out their plan using documents notarized by Melanie Hunsaker, who works in real estate. Her husband, Jamie Hunsaker, is a Trump fan and one of the alleged electoral pseudonyms.

Donald Paul Shuin, another would-be elector, is heavily involved in GOP politics.

Federico Buck, another real estate veteran, is among the signatories. Others include Cynthia Franco, Sarai Franco, Stuart A. Hogue, Carrie Lundell, Christine Taryn Moser, Danjie J. Moser, Jessica Panell and Peter Van Osiecki.

It is not clear yet if they will be charged with fraud.

Arizona recognizes voting and electoral fraud as criminal offenses, but it appears to be mainly related to the casting of regular ballots or ballot counting.

It also has a provision for the manufacture, storage or supply of counterfeit instruments for fraudulent purposes. This is a serious crime.

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