An article published last week by The Atlantic fueled fears of chaos after Election Day in Pennsylvania. In it, the head of the state Republican Party floated the idea that the GOP-controlled legislature could choose a slate of presidential electors to support President Donald Trump regardless of the outcome of the popular vote. Needless to say, that got people's attention.

“I’ve mentioned it to them, and I hope they’re thinking about it too,” Lawrence Tabas told the magazine, referencing the Trump campaign. “I just don’t think this is the right time for me to be discussing those strategies and approaches, but [direct appointment of electors] is one of the options."

Many of you reached out asking if this was possible, and how it would happen. And while there's a good deal of gray area, Spotlight PA reporters Cynthia Fernandez and Angela Couloumbis delivered this key explainer.

The Context: Both Tabas and Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R., Centre) walked back the comments and denounced The Atlantic article.

At first, the Pennsylvania GOP — on Tabas' behalf — said his comments were taken out of context to spin a “pre-emptive farce." In a later statement to Spotlight PA, the state party went a step further and said Tabas had not discussed electors with the Trump campaign but instead the "safe harbor" date — the day on which states need to finish counting ballots for Congress to unconditionally accept the results. 

Corman, on the other hand, said his comments were "hypotheticals" and that he's obligated to follow the state Election Code. That law dictates that each political party’s presidential candidate gets to pick his own electors.

But the U.S. Constitution does allow state legislatures to designate how electors are selected. How exactly that would play out is unclear, though the Florida legislature considered passing a resolution with the same aim in 2000 before the U.S. Supreme Court settled the contested presidential race.