Mutiny in the Electoral College is their only hope
via Twitter
Sometimes the cruelest thing you can do is give someone hope in a hopeless situation. But for those of you willing to entertain the impossible, you can join a public campaign to shift electoral votes for Hillary Clinton. While the electoral votes from Michigan and Arizona are still outstanding, Donald Trump’s current lead in the Electoral College is 279 to 228. Trump is nine votes over the 270 needed to win, but some of them can be awarded to Clinton by what’s known as the very rare, but very real, Faithless Electors.
Since the beginning of the Electoral College, Faithless Electors have voted against the winning candidate 157 times. 71 of of these votes were changed because the candidate died before the election and 82 were changed because the elector simply wanted to vote for someone else. Most recently, an anonymous Faithless Elector in Minnesota pledged to vote for Democrat John Kerry, but instead voted for his vice presidential running mate, John Edwards.
The Electoral College officially casts their vote for president on December 19, 2016. To encourage members pledged to vote for Trump to switch to Clinton, a petition has been created at Change.org. The petition’s creators believe that a vote for Clinton aligns with the will of the American electorate because she won the popular vote. “The only reason Trump ‘won’ is because of the Electoral College,” petition reads. “But the Electoral College can actually give the White House to either candidate. So why not use this most undemocratic of our institutions to ensure a democratic result?”
Although the chances of enough electors voting against Trump to put Clinton in office are beyond a pipe dream, bringing attention to flaws in the Electoral College might be the most sensible thing we’ve heard all year.
Sign the petition at Change.org.
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