United States presidential election, July 2020

United States presidential election, July 2020

July 7-13, 2020
26 members of the Electoral College 14 electoral votes needed to win
Opinion polls
Turnout	61.9%
Nominee Lyndon Garland Trash Jack Coulter Party American Liberal Coalition Socialist Party Libertarian Party Home state Northern State Dixie Northern State Running mate Cabin Politophile April Electoral vote 12 9 5 States carried 2 (plus DC) 1 0 Popular vote 49.69% 21.44% 28.55%
Presidential election results map. Blue denotes states won by Garland/Cabin and red denotes those won by Trash/Politophile.
President before election Valerie Libertarian Party Elected President Lyndon Garland American Liberal Coalition

The United States presidential election of July 2020, held between July 7, 2020 and July 13, 2020, was the eigth U.S. presidential election.

Nominations

Libertarian Party

Primary process

Three politicians put themselves forward for the Libertarian nomination. After the nominations were over, a debate period began, and a vote using ranked-choice voting followed. Jack Coulter swept the primary vote with 66.6% of the vote.

Nominees

Libertarian Party ticket
Jack Coulter	April
for President	for Vice President
Senator and Northern Lieutenant Governor	Former Senate PPT
Platform

Candidates

Candidates in this section are sorted by the percentage of votes recieved in the primary
Jack Coulter	Mike Smith	System Jones
Lieutenant Governor of the North (June 8, 2020 - July 13, 2020)	Former Representative from Dixie (November 7, 2020 – January 11, 2020)	Former Vice President (February 2019 - March 2019)
66.6% of the vote	26.6% of the vote	6.6% of the vote

American Liberal Coalition

Primary process

The ALC primary originally had 2 candidates vying for the nomination. However, Dallas's run was ended after her expulsion from the party following the JAPL Scandal. This left Garland able to take the nomination unopposed.

Nominees

American Liberal Coalition ticket
Lyndon Garland	Cabin Fever
for President	for Vice President
Governor of the North	Vice President
Platform

Candidates

Candidates in this section are sorted by the percentage of votes recieved in the primary
Lyndon Garland	Dallas
Governor of the Northern State (June 8, 2020 - July 13, 2020)	Former Representative from Jefferson (June 13, 2020 – July 11, 2020)
Unopposed	Withdrew

Socialist Party

Primary process

The Socialist Party did not run a primary, as Trash ran unopposed.

Nominees

Socialist Party ticket
Trash	Politophile
for President	for Vice President
Senator	Former President
Platform

Candidates

Candidates in this section are sorted by the percentage of votes recieved in the primary
Trash
Senator from Dixie (March 20, 2020 - present)
Unopposed

Opinion polls

Multiple organizations carried out opinion polls leading up to the election. Most notable of these were The Public Record and The Archivist. Although most polls predicted a Garland plurality, all were in concurrence that none of the candidates would reach the 14 electoral votes required to win the electoral college, sending it to the House.

Race	Poll model	Lyndon Garland ALC	Jack Coulter Libertarian	Trash Socialist	Leading by (points)
Two-way	The Public Record	47.5%	52.5%	Not polled	5
Three-way	The Archivist	44.4%	27.7%	27.7%	16.7
	The Public Record	38.5%	41%	17.9%	2.5
	American Workers Paper	53.7%	28.9%	17.4%	24.7
	ABC News	45%	40%	15%	5

Campaign

Campaigning took place on July 7. Garland massively outspent the other candidates, while Trash failed to pick up any money from outside groups.

Campaign finance

Candidate	Grassroots			Party and outside groups			Total raised	Total spent	Total cash on hand
	Money raised	Money spent	Cash on hand	Money raised	Money spent	Cash on hand
Lyndon Garland	$100,000	$100,000	$0	$190,000	$190,000	$0	$290,000	$290,000	$0
Jack Coulter	$100,000	$100,000	$0	$70,000	$70,000	$0	$170,000	$170,000	$0
Trash	$100,000	$100,000	$0	$0	$0	$0	$100,000	$100,000	$0

Campaign spending by state

Candidate	North	Dixie	Jefferson	DC	Total spending
Lyndon Garland	$90,000	$60,000	$90,000	$50,000	$290,000
Jack Coulter	$40,000	$50,000	$80,000	$0	$170,000
Trash	$0	$100,000	$0	$0	$100,000

Debates

An official debate was held between the Presidential candidates from July 7 to July 9. Concurrently, one was held between the Vice Presidential candidates.

An unofficial debate was hosted by ABC News, moderated by SteB.

Results

12	5	9
Garland	Coulter	Trash

Overview

The results came as a surprise to many. Some polls had predicted a Coulter plurality of both the popular vote and the Electoral College, and his last place in the elector count was unexpected.

Distribution of Electoral College votes between the candidates

Presidential Candidate	Party	Home State	Popular Vote	Electoral Vote	Running Mate
					Vice-Presidential Candidate	Party	Home State	Electoral Vote
Lyndon Garland	ALC	North	49.69%	12	Cabin Fever	Independent	North	12
Jack Coulter	Libertarian Party	North	28.55%	5	April	Libertarian Party	Jefferson	5
Trash	Socialist Party	Dixie	21.44%	9	Politophile	Socialist Party	Dixie	9
Other/Write-in			0.32%	—	Other/Write-in			—
Total			100%	26				26
Needed to win				14				14

Distribution of the Popular Vote between the candidates

Results by state

The table below displays the official vote tallies by each state's Electoral College voting method. The source for the results of all states is the official Federal Election Commission results. The column labeled "Margin" shows the winner of the state's margin of victory over their closest rival.

Unlike the previous presidential election, not all states had winner-take-all systems in place. Between this election and the previous, Dixie repealed its proportional allocation via the EAR Act, allowing all 7 of its Electoral Votes to be given to the winner. All other states were, however, proportional. This proved costly for the Coulter Campaign, as their loss prevented them from taking any of Dixie's electoral votes.

Garland, being the long-time Governor of the North, swept his home state. His own Lt Governor, Coulter, only managed a very distant second in the North. Dixie, Trash's home state, was long considered to be a right stronghold, and Coulter's loss to Trash there was a major upset. Not only did he lose, he did not manage to even come second. This loss likely cost him the election, as with a win in Dixie he would have tied with Garland for Electoral Votes. Garland's sweep of DC was expected, as no other candidate even campaigned in DC.

Legend

States won by Garland/Cabin

States won by Trash/Politophile

	Garland/Cabin		Coulter/April		Trash/Politophile		Margin	Total Electoral Vote
State	Popular Vote	Electoral Vote	Popular Vote	Electoral Vote	Popular Vote	Electoral Vote
North	62.89%	5	22.34%	2	14.79%	1	40.55%	8
Dixie	30.83%	-	30.59%	-	36.56%	7	5.73%	7
Jefferson	49.39%	4	35.30%	3	15.30%	1	14.09%	8
DC	78.79%	3	13.64%	0	7.58%	0	65.15%	3
Total	12		5		9			26

Aftermath

In the wake of his defeat, Coulter released a press statement conceding defeat. In it, he endorsed Garland and urged members of Congress not to vote for him, saying, "Should some representatives decide that their political goals, partisan or personal, are of more importance than the voice of the people, “disappointed” will not be able to properly convey my feelings".

Contingent election

Senate

As prescribed by the 12th Amendment, the U.S. Senate has the constitutional responsibility to elect a Vice President if no ticket reaches the majority required in the electoral college. The Senate held a contingent election from July 11 to July 13, with Sen. Epsilon presiding. The Senate was limited to choosing from among the two candidates who received the most electoral votes: Cabin and Politophile; April, who had finished third, was eliminated. Senator Valerie was unable to participate in the proceedings, as she could not leave the Office of the Presidency until a replacement had been chosen.

Votes

The Senate voted 4-1 to elect Cabin as the Vice President. Only Trash, Senator from Dixie, voted for his own running mate Politophile.

Senator	Vote
Kody Clark	Cabin
Tedd Ddet	Cabin
Epsilon Leclair	Cabin
James Order	Cabin
Trash	Politophile

House of Representatives

As no presidential candidate had won a majority in the electoral college, the responsibility for electing a new president landed upon the U.S. House of Representatives, which held a contingent election between July 11 and July 13. Each state delegation, voting en bloc, had a single vote, made by its presiding officer to the House floor. A majority of two of the three states was required for a candidate to win.

The delegations discussed and voted in closed session, to prevent the public and other Representatives from influencing the outcome of the vote.

Votes

The House voted 2-1 to elect Garland as the President, with Dixie casting their vote for Trash.

2020 Contingent United States presidential election

July 11 - July 13
Candidate		Votes
	Lyndon Garland	2
	Trash	1
	Jack Coulter	0
Total votes		3
Votes necessary		2

Northern Delegation

Representative	Vote
ADrewster	Garland
Arkenstone	Garland
Bob2Boy	Trash
Matthew Hale	Garland
Thanos May	Garland

Dixie Delegation

Representative	Vote
Drunk	Garland
Jed Marshall	Trash
Poliman	Trash
Sandoval	Trash
John Smith	Trash

Jefferson Delegation

Representative	Vote
Putbye	Garland
Trent	Garland
Sandra Murphy-Colbert	Garland
Caprese	Garland
Computerguy	Garland
Barch	Garland

Post-election events and controversies

Trash closed meeting

On July 13, as the House contingent elections were ending, The Public Record released a special issue. In this issue, they revealed that Computerguy had come forward with evidence of a secret meeting that presidential Candidate Trash held with Libertatrian Representatives in a bid to win Jefferson's House delegation, and ultimately the Presidency. In the meeting, he agreed to majorly compromise on his foreign policy concerning Israel, in exchange for power. He also asked to be filled in on the proceedings in the Jefferson closed session, however immediately rescinded this upon learning of its illegality.

This coming to light brought Trash into a large-scale twitter fight, where many members of the right involved with the meeting defended his actions, while many on the left attacked him for it. There were little to no official ramifications for Trash.

Media coverage

Media coverage of the presidential election was widespread. The Public Record covered the election results live as they came out. After the stream, they released a podcast episode in which they discussed the election results. ABC News covered the House contingency election closely, while the American Workers' Paper also reported on the events.