Letter: Is democracy at a tipping point?

The greatest threat to American democracy is not a repeat of Jan. 6, but the possibility of a stolen presidential election. The looming danger is not that the mob will return, it’s that mainstream Republicans will legally overturn an election.

Article II of the Constitution leaves decisions about how electors for the Electoral College will be chosen to state legislatures. “Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors equal to the whole number of senators and representatives to which the state may be entitled in the congress.”

When George Washington was elected in 1789, the legislatures of five states appointed electors directly without a popular vote.

There are currently 29 state legislatures with Republican majorities that could select Trump electors regardless of the candidate the voters preferred.

The Supreme Court has on several occasions recognized that the state legislatures possess authority to direct the manner of appointing electors. In 2000, Florida lawmakers cited broad power to award electors to Bush and they almost did.

This independent state legislature theory might sound radical. But we live in a toxic political environment with two years of fabricated claims of election fraud. Is this the tipping point? Will American democracy die?