What if the loser of the US election doesn’t concede?
Posted November 4, 2016 8:10 am.
Last Updated November 4, 2016 8:13 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WASHINGTON, DC. (NEWS 1130) – There are four days to go until the world’s largest superpower choses a new leader. And a lot has been made during the campaign about whether or not Republican candidate Donald Trump will concede to Hillary Clinton if he loses.
“I’ll keep you in suspense,” was how Trump put it when asked directly during one of three televised presidential debates if he would accept the results of the November 8th election.
“It’s deeply offensive in terms of etiquette in American politics, but it doesn’t really matter,” says Dr. Jeffry Burnam, a political science professor and expert in American government at Georgetown University.
He says the decision ultimately lies with the states’ electoral colleges. “It wouldn’t have any constitutional implications, he’s not required to concede. What happens in America is you don’t actually elect the person, you elect electors who elect the person,” says Burnam. “I wouldn’t worry about Trump not conceding. The only problem would be if he launched a legal challenge to some of the results. He can demand a recount. The states have various different rules about when you can demand a recount.”
We only need to look back 16 years to the hotly-contested election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. “[Trump] can do that. What happened in 2000 though was that the Supreme Court stopped the recount and for good reason because Gore wanted to recount some of the votes and not all of them,” says Burnam.
This time around though, a vacancy and possibility of a tie on the nation’s top court means a lower court ruling would likely be upheld.
