Open Letter to Vice-President Michael Pence

December 26, 2020

Mr. Vice-President-

The likelihood that you will ever see this open letter is remote.  Neither you nor your aides likely visit this website – too bad – so unless someone who does visit forwards the message to you, it will probably remain unseen on your computer screen or mobile device. 

Yet it is written because, when I channeled Benjamin Franklin last night, he specifically requested that the attempt be made, because the only way to ensure that you would never see it is to forego the effort in the first place.  Indeed, many of the points hereafter to be made are at Dr. Franklin’s channeled suggestion.  I shall try to be brief. 

On January 6, 2021, you will be called upon under the Constitution and the 12^th Amendment thereto to preside over the Joint Session of the Congress assembled to count the electoral votes cast for President and Vice-President.   

Against the backdrop of unprecedented anomalies, unexplained irregularities and documented suggestions of voter and election fraud occurring in certain particular states, the question of whether those votes have been “regularly given” and/or whether certain electors have been “regularly appointed” surges to the forefront.  That question, according to Dr. Franklin, is a threshold one which should be addressed at the very outset of the Jan. 6^th proceedings.

The term “regularly given” derives from 3 U.S.C. § 15 regarding the counting of electoral votes.  That statute does not directly address, however, the issue of whether the original votes cast were “regularly given.” (Emphasis added).  It prescribes only the procedures whereby a vote which is presumed to have been “regularly given” is to be mathematically counted.  That presumption, however, is a rebuttable one.  Indeed, it has been recognized that the term is subject to differing interpretations.  Moreover, to the extent that the statute is inconsistent with and/or contrary to the intent of the 12^th Amendment, the Amendment, rather than the statute, will control.

If the bona fides of certain electors are tainted by the noted anomalies, irregularities and suggestions of voter fraud noted above, then those votes cannot properly be deemed to have been “regularly given” and, according to Dr. Franklin, should not be counted. 

The first entry for the definition of the term “regular” found in Webster’s Dictionary is: “constituted, conducted, scheduled, or done in conformity with established or prescribed usages, rules, or discipline.” (Emphasis added).  It is abundantly clear to any objective observer that the votes now reposed in the “swing state” slates of Biden electors are not…, repeat, not the result of compliance with or in conformity with “established or prescribed usages, rules or disciplines.”  Instead, they are just the opposite.  Dr. Franklin concurs.

Thus, at minimum, the electoral votes of those slates of state electors where the popular votes have been irredeemably tainted by the anomalies, unexplained irregularities and suggestions of fraud noted above – and which are of widespread public notice – cannot properly be deemed to have been “regularly given,” the protestations and propaganda of the Fourth Estate and others notwithstanding.

Accordingly, they should at minimum be disregarded and either replaced with the “regularly given” votes of electors pledged to President Trump, or not counted at all in the determination of whether the 270-vote “electoral count” threshold for the presidency has been met.  If that threshold is not met – and satisfied as a threshold, preliminary matter – then in that event, the procedures of the 12^th Amendment should control.

Finally, Dr. Franklin suggested that you be reminded of the question that was posed to him (and the answer he gave) when he left the final adjournment of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday, September 17, 1787.  While you have no doubt heard it before, it bears repeating now.  When asked if the labors of the Founders had produced a republic or a monarchy, Dr. Franklin replied: “A republic, if you can keep it.”

This open letter recommends that you heed Dr. Franklin’s admonition.  At least the attempt has been made.

J. DeMaio