If Trump tries to influence electoral votes post-Nov. 3, ‘it can’t happen here,’ Gardner says
NH’s longtime top election official says state law requires governor to certify electors for candidate chosen by voters
NH’s longtime top election official says state law requires governor to certify electors for candidate chosen by voters
Secretary of State Bill Gardner is soft-spoken – most of the time. But his voice rose when he told WMUR on Friday: “It can’t happen here.”
“It” is the speculation running rampant in the news media and on social media that President Donald Trump – if he is unhappy with the outcome of the popular vote on Nov. 3 – would try to challenge the results and while the challenge played out, he would ask friendly governors and state legislatures to their choose own slates of electors, who would vote for him.
In short, the speculation goes, Trump would try to overturn the will of the voters in enough states won by Joe Biden to swing the electoral vote in his favor.
The furor stems from Trump’s comments last week that if he loses, he would need to “see what happens” before acquiescing to Biden, citing his long-held suspicion about election-rigging.
The Atlantic last week stirred the pot with a story that cites unnamed sources claiming that the Trump campaign “is discussing contingency plans to bypass election results and appoint loyal electors in battleground states where Republicans hold the legislative majority.”
A White House spokesperson called the story “false and ridiculous.” The spokesperson told The Guardian, “The types of contingency plans included in the story are impossible.”
Republican Gov. Chris Sununu made it clear last week that he believed Trump’s refusal to guarantee that he’d voluntarily leave office if he loses on Nov. 3 was a “very inappropriate comment.”
“Obviously, there’s a winner of an election and a loser of an election and whether it’s the current incumbent president, or on the planning board, there has to be smooth transition of power,” Sununu said. “Everybody should understand that.”
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Corky Messner told WMUR on Friday, “I have the utmost confidence that in the very unlikely event that the president were to lose, he will follow the Constitution. He will do the right thing and he will make sure that there’s a peaceful transfer of power.”
In an interview on WMUR’s “CloseUP,” which aired Sunday, New Hampshire Republican Party Chair Steve Stepanek was asked by political director Adam Sexton if he agreed with Sununu.
“What I agree on is the fact that we need to make sure all the votes are properly counted, number one, and that there’s no monkeying around with it,” Stepanek said.
“I don't anticipate anything like that happening in New Hampshire, because we know how to do it, we know how to do it right, but I have concerns about other states, especially states that are doing mail-in ballots."
State Democratic Party Chair Raymond Buckley said on the same program, “I think what's really important to point out is that the sitting president of the United States is actually challenging whether or not Americans' votes will be considered legitimate. Never in history has that happened before."
But even if a hypothetical governor were to agree with Trump, Secretary Gardner guaranteed, unequivocally, that such a governor could not overturn the New Hampshire voters.
“He (or she) would be breaking the law,” said the nation’s longest serving state election official.
Gardner cited several statutes to back up his certainty about this. And he said that, as is often the case in national history politics, New Hampshire has a prominent place in the origins the Electoral College.
Gardner said one New Hampshire law makes it clear that after the period for a dissatisfied candidate to seek and obtain a recount has expired, “The governor shall issue certificates of election to the following officers-elect ...”
Topping the list of officers-elect are: “Electors of the president and vice president of the United States.”
The key word, he said, is “shall.”
After the governor issues the certificates, Gardner hosts the four electors for a ceremony – usually held in the Executive Council chambers at the State House – for them to cast their ballots.
Gardner also pointed out that under another New Hampshire law: “Presidential electors shall be nominated by state party conventions.”
The electors are initially suggested to each political party convention by the chair of each party. This year, in May, at their state conventions, Republicans chose four longtime Trump supporters and Democrats chose four longtime Joe Biden supporters.
Gardner noted that still another state law mandates that the “voters of the state shall elect the number of electors of the president and vice president of the United States to which the state is entitled.
Each state is entitled to a number of electoral votes equal to the number of members of its congressional delegation. New Hampshire, with two senators and two U.S. House members, has four electors.
Gardner said that after a New Hampshire winner is determined by the popular vote, he presents the slate of electors of the winning candidate to the governor, who under the law must then certify them.
Gardner said there’s no room for shenanigans.
“We bring the vote to the governor, with the number of votes that the candidates received, and names of the electors that have been duly selected by the party,” he said.
“There’s a process. In the last election, Donald Trump could have had a recount for $500. We’re the easiest state in the country for a lot of things related to elections, and that’s one of them.”
He scoffed at the notion that somehow, New Hampshire’s slate of winning electors would not be counted and would be replaced by the electors of the losing candidate.
“It can’t happen here,” Gardner said. “You can’t do it here. First of all, you’re going to know the count. If there’s a recount, you’re going to know how the recount ended up."
If a recount result is challenged to the state Ballot Law Commission, “The commission reviews it. It’s all public. People are going to know from the beginning.”
Gardner said that he has been getting questions from concerned voters about the process since Trump made the now-famous comment.
Gardner said the worry is that “there could be corruption.”
But he said, “If there’s corruption, everybody in the state is going to know who created the corruption. It’s not what this state is about.
“There’s not a king here. It’s a public process.”
State Ballot Law Commission Chair Bradford Cook agreed.
“There is little anyone can do once the winner is certified,” he said. “It is challenges to ballots and results which would get the attention, not the electors, who are ceremonial."
Cook added, “The static and concern is the result of Trump and others stirring the waters and casting doubt on the whole process. Such remarks or sentiments are un-American and criminal in my view.
“There is no evidence of any voter irregularities in New Hampshire. Period.”
Another NH 'first'
Gardner noted that until about 40 years ago, the names of the electors were on the ballots under the names of the candidates. When voters chose a candidate, they were explicitly choosing electors.
That historical fact further emphasizes that the voters’ decision cannot be overturned by the discretion of an elected official, he said.
New Hampshire’s delegation of electors was the first to vote for George Washington in 1788, Gardener said. He said each town held a popular vote to chose its favorite to be electors and eventually the state Legislature narrowed the list to five people – one for each county.
Before Washington was sworn in, he said, the first order of business was to count the electoral votes for president, Gardner said.
“And what state do you think they counted first?” Gardner said. “New Hampshire.”