There is talk that Biden may drop out of the race, clearing the way for Kamala Harris to become the Democratic nominee for president. However, there is a problem with that.
We do not have direct elections. When a presidential candidate wins a state ina primary election, in almost all cases he wins the electors from that state for his party. So Biden won Democratic electors from the states where he won the primary that will vote for him at the Democratic Convention.
The problem is that 33 states have 'faithless elector' laws. At some point after the primary electors in those states must sign a pledge to vote for the candidate of their party who won. This prevents the electors from switching their votes to a candidate that did not win. So if Biden drops out, but electors have pledged in writing to vote for Biden and only Biden, what happens?
These laws vary widely from state to state. In some there is...