In an effort to undermine the Electoral College and oppose a Donald Trump presidency, about a half-dozen Democratic electors are planning on changing their votes and lobbying their Republican counterparts to do the same.
The Hamilton Electors
Lead by Michael Baca of Colorado and Bret Chaifalo of Washington state, the electors are attempting to initiate a mass defection to protest the legitimacy of the institution. Baca and Chiafalo call themselves the “Hamilton Electors,” a name that refers to Alexander Hamilton’s reasoning for the existence of the Electoral College:
“The office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.”
The founding fathers put the Electoral College in place in order to protect the office of the President from a candidate who is popular, but unfit to lead. Unfortunately for us, it seems to have backfired.
The Faithless Electors
This group of “faithless electors” is contemplating encouraging other Democratic electors to change their vote from Hillary Clinton in order to partner with Republicans in support of a moderate Republican candidate, such as Mitt Romney or John Kasich.
If the Democratic electors who have already signed on to be “faithless” follow through on their promise, it will be the most electors to defect from their party’s viable presidential candidate since 1808.
Simply defecting from Clinton wouldn’t help or hinder Trump’s eventual presidency, but the supporters believe that it would be a major contribution to the sense of voter disenfranchisement this country has been feeling throughout the election.
Their efforts may also be enough to finally fuel efforts to eliminate the 228-year old Electoral College, which has now bitten the Democratic Party twice since George W. Bush won the electoral vote in 2000.
What Will Happen?
The 538 electors who make up the Electoral College are set to gather in their respective state capitals on December 19 in order to cast their formal vote for president.
While the “Hamilton Electors” are unlikely to secure the necessary 37 Republican electors to reject Trump, a small number of Republican defections could still cause a major upheaval of our current institution.
It won’t help their efforts that 29 states have laws mandating that electors support the winner of the state popular vote. However, these laws have never been enforced or challenged, and most simply result in minor fines.
Even if this only results in a few electors defecting in order to make a statement, it would still send quite the message about what some of our politicians think of the Electoral College.
Let’s not forget, even Trump thought the Electoral College was an archaic institution in 2012:
The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012
Watch this clip about faithless electors for more info on how it works, and whether they can stop Trump:
Featured Image By Noopy420 Via Wikimedia Commons/CC-SA-4.0
