Joseph Rainsbury Morgan Griffith and Ben Cline were among the 138 House objectors to the Electoral College vote. Others have rightfully condemned them for their actions. But, relying on the 2000 opinion in Bush v. Gore, they have tried to justify their conduct on legal grounds. As a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Supreme Court of the United States, I write to explainâin common-sense termsâwhy their legal arguments are rubbish. First, some background. Our Constitution divides power between state governments and the federal government. Relevant here, it gives state governments, not the federal government, the power to decide the fairness and legitimacy of presidential elections. Each state gets a certain number of âelectorsâ to vote in the Electoral College. Citizens cast votes for their stateâs electors by choosing the candidate that those electors have pledge to vote for. State election officials count those votes. And after determining which slate of electors received the most votes, governors of each state âcertifyâ a list of electors and send it to Congress. This is a straightforward process.