Impact of a Concession?

[James Maule]

May I trouble one or two or more of you for an evaluation of my response to a question posed to me by my sister who is not a lawyer. My gut reaction the answer is something like "revocation of concession based on mistake" but here's the question:

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Can't seem to find this anywhere....which means I'm probably looking in all the wrong places.

Assume that Candidate A thinks he lost an election.  Candidate A calls Candidate B, who he thinks won the election, and concedes victory to
Candidate B.

Is the concession a valid legal statement?  What if indeed, when all ballots and/or electoral votes are in, Candidate A was the winner?  Is
Candidate A then awarded the election win, or does it stay with Candidate B because A conceded?

If concession is valid, then how does "the will of the people prevail" if the candidates themselves have the right to alter the peoples' voting
results?  Assume that the candidate was not dropping out of the race for a reason such as health, personal decision, etc., but merely based on
the result of his understanding of the outcome of the votes?

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Thanks


Jim Maule
Professor of Law
Villanova University School of Law
Villanova PA 19085
maule at law.villanova.edu
http://vls.law.vill.edu/prof/maule