Will Democrats use the nuclear option to blow up the election?

Imagine waking up the morning after the election this November with the unclear result over who is the next president. Suppose that Donald Trump fails to capture the popular vote by a wider margin than in 2016 and loses some states he carried that year. With a slim majority in states like Florida and Pennsylvania, he could still garner 270 electoral votes.

But would Democrats accept such an outcome? There is a chance that legislatures in blue states could effectively overturn the election result through a means available in the Constitution. This nuclear option has never been tried before, but it could tear the country down.

If Trump has a narrow victory in one or more blue states, or a contested result, there is a chance that the process would be completely taken out of the hands of voters. A new precedent and a clause in the Constitution may lead us to the perfectly legal case where Trump wins the mandated number of states, yet Joe Biden is sworn in on January 20.

Tradition dictates states, and several districts for Maine and Nebraska, to send their delegations to the Electoral College based on the popular vote winner. However, this mechanism can change. A landmark decision from the Supreme Court has found that states can force the electors to vote in a certain manner.