The story of how Jefferson was really elected president

Parallels to 2020-2021, including Georgia's role

Democrats want you to remember Jan. 6, 2021.

But they concentrate on the demonstrations, not on the Electoral College vote that day.

The news media and politicians failed then to note a similar controversy over the Electoral College vote on Feb. 16, 1801.

Georgia also had an odd, pivotal role in the election of Thomas Jefferson as president 220 years ago.

As the-then vice president, Thomas Jefferson counted the Electoral votes...just as VP Mike Pence counted votes in 2021.

In 1801, the 1800 Georgia Electoral ballot was the only one of all the states that didn't list "the person's voted for."

It listed four signatures: four under Jefferson's name and four under Aaron Burr's name.

Georgia Gov. James Jackson certified the names.

But the electors themselves had not signed and certified that the list represented their preference.

The ballot was the only one that didn't comply with the law.

"Blunders of the Founding Fathers," authored by Bruce Ackerman and published in 2005, states on page 63, "Georgia's ballot stuck out like a sore thumb... "

If Jefferson accepted the Georgia ballot, he would become president. If he didn't, a Constitutional crisis would ensue.

He counted Georgia's defective ballot.

History and later news accounts proved he made the right choice.

Get Ackerman's book and read the entirety of Chapter Three for the details and images of Georgia's ballot.

VP Pence decided to not count the alternate electors' votes for President Trump and counted the official state-certified ballot.

The controversy continues today over the votes in five key states, including Georgia. VP Pence was keenly aware of the dispute on Jan. 6, 2021.

If he had rejected the still disputed (among some) Georgia tabulation and accepted votes of the alternative Electors, President Trump would have won Georgia.

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Ackerman is professor of constitutional law at Yale University.

In 2010, he was named by "Foreign Policy"  magazine to its list of top global thinkers

Ackerman has authored 15 books and 80-plus articles.