The
2017 United States presidential election was held on September 12, 2017 to elect the President of the United States for a term lasting for four years or until the next election. Incumbent President Duncan Scott was first elected in 2016, having been selected to stand for the military regime in the first nominally free election in 13 years. Scott faced off against activist and attorney Elizabeth Burnham, who was in prison for conspiracy against the United States, and Congressman Ham Fitzgerald of the Expressman's Brotherhood, who had led the Expressman's Revolution of 2016 and the 17 May coup, precipitating the early election.
The United States had been under a military government since the 2003 coup otherwise known as the Copper Revolution. General Alexander Mulholland eventually became president and elections were suspended for three years until 2006, when sham elections were held to place military officials and loyalists of the Mulholland administration in Congress as well as state and local governments. Mulholland was officially "elected" in the 2008 presidential election, where he stood unopposed. A spate of assassinations by insurgents leading up to the planned 2012 election led to that election being suspended as well. In 2015, President Kenneth Kenworthy announced that "free" elections would be held in 2016, and that he would not seek election to a full term of his own. However, these elections were highly suspect, due to restricted ballot access, voter suppression, and suspension of political parties, these being a few of the many tools the regime used to maintain power.
The 2016 elections would have been successful in upholding the existing order, as organized opposition had been rendered almost impossible and dissidents were systematically oppressed. However, there had been a slight oversight. In the 2005 proscription of the trade unions, the Expressman's Brotherhood was not included as the vast majority of its membership had shifted to the National Expressmen Union, which was dissolved as members went on to join the American Postal Workers Union or other postal unions. The Brotherhood went defunct shortly after proscription anyway due to the broader suppression of labor. Though it was defunct, it still legally existed and had ballot access in several states. Dissident and labor activist Ham Fitzgerald led candidates across the nation to run for office under the Expressman's label, and won wherever they could. The Kenworthy adminstration refrained from overly restricting the Expressman's Revolution due to international pressure and Kenworthy's desire to be viewed as a reformer. Although General Duncan Scott easily won the presidential election, the Expressmen won Congressional races.
With their 136 seats in Congress, the Expressmen were able to block President Scott's attempts to eliminate them and also slowed down the business of government. On May 17, 2017, they began a coup attempt. Firstly, they had blocked the budget entirely, mandating a government shutdown. Secondly, they had also blocked all presidential appointments, meaning that there was no Cabinet. While President Scott was on an international trip, Vice President Robert Howard was assassinated by insurgents who began fighting in the capital and ejected military loyalists from Congress, leaving only Expressmen, who then declared an absolute majority in the House of Representatives and unilaterally impeached President Scott. This coup was the opening salvo in what was likely to become a full fledged civil war. However, the insurgents failed to hold the capital, and President Scott returned to the United States on May 21. Under siege in Washington and likely to lose, Ham Fitzgerald agreed to meet with Scott.
The Mount Vernon Agreement ordered a cessation of hostilities and an open presidential election. The Expressmen would be allowed to leave Washington with their lives and would not be held liable for their crimes, the underlying threat being that if they lost the election, they would all surely be arrested and executed. Military leaders were puzzled at Duncan's decision, but he stressed the importance of having Fitzgerald urge insurgents across the nation not to rise up. Scott, like Kenworthy before him, was a reformer, and preferred the slow and orderly reintroduction of (limited) democracy over open rebellion. He was sure the election would not be a risk, and that everyone could be handled afterwards.
Fitzgerald declared his candidacy and was seen as the leader of a unified opposition, with a good chance to win if the election was indeed free and fair. International observers came to the United States to monitor the election. However, not all insurgents adhered to Fitzgerald's calls for temporary peace and continued to fight, particularly in the usual hotspots of the midwest and southeast. Scott regularly threatened to suspend the election wherever the fighting did not stop. During the campaign, Fitzgerald was unable to visit most states, as he already had outstanding arrest warrants for being a radical and an insurgent. Additionally, numerous states outlawed the Brotherhood to remove him from the ballot.
In July, the race became more complicated when Elizabeth Burnham entered the race. Burnham, a pro-democracy activist, was the wife of the exiled Ezra Lieberman, son of Levi Lieberman, the last freely elected president. Burnham had been convicted of conspiracy against the United States in 2013, a move widely decried internationally as sign of the excessive authoritarianism of the "Revolving Door" era of military presidents. Though Burnham remained in prison, activists organized her campaign on her behalf and secured ballot access in several states. Burnham was still a popular symbol of opposition in the United States, and her candidacy threatened Fitzgerald. The Scott administration allowed the campaign because it was expected that the division in the opposition would allow Scott to win "fairly."
However, by September, there was a growing fear that either Burnham or Fitzgerald would be able to win the election. Additionally, if Scott won, the insurgency would probably start again. The whole thing had not been very well thought out. On September 11, Ezra Lieberman announced that he had returned to the United States for the first time since he was 21, in anticipation of his wife's election to the presidency. Additionally, he called for a return to armed resistance if Scott or even Fitzgerald claimed to win the election. This was the final straw. A few hours later, Scott ordered the suspension of the election. His order was disobeyed in 20 of the 51 states.
The following day, the election took place wherever it was allowed, in conjunction with nationwide rebellion. As the results came in, Burnham won a plurality of both the popular vote and the electoral votes of most states where there were elections. Scott held the rest of the states and declared himself the winner by virtue of controlling the Electoral College. But the pretense of democracy had already been abandoned, and war had begun. Although Scott claimed a constitutional victory, it was too late. Scott himself would be assassinated the following year, while the military government went on for two more years.