The race to 37: Electoral College members say they're seeing possible defections

[demon in basement]

Salon's Matthew Rozsa, early this evening.....

Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard University law professor who has been offering pro bono legal counsel to Republican electors thinking of defecting from Trump, claimed on Tuesday that he has spoken with 20 electors who may vote for a third candidate.

“Obviously, whether an elector ultimately votes his or her conscience will depend in part upon whether there are enough doing the same. We now believe there are more than half the number needed to change the result seriously considering making that vote,” Lessig told Politico.

The news comes as Hamilton Electors, the group of Electoral College members trying to persuade electors to defect to an alternative candidate, tell Salon they’re “looking at is the best chance we have of stopping Trump than at any other point during this process.”

“It’s a very fluid situation,” one Electoral College member told Salon.

http://www.salon.com/2016/12/14/the-race-to-37-electoral-college-members-say-theyre-seeing-possible-defections/

Personally, I am less than optimistic, given the fanaticism of Trumpies, but figured this article deserved some exposure regardless.

[TexasTowelie]

1. It's already received some exposure

from when it was posted from Politico.

[KewlKat]

2. How many times must this be said, we have THE most qualified person who just happened

to beat the socks off the Con in the popular vote. Why must they insist on ONCE AGAIN, throwing away a vote that REALLY MATTERS on an effing "third" candidate? It will just then pass to the house and we know they will vote for the Con.

They will be negligent in their duties if they don't seriously follow the Federalist 68 -

Hamilton defends the process for selecting the president. He argues that the system of an electoral college ensures that “the sense of the people” will play a key role in selecting the president, while, at the same time, affording “as little opportunity as possible to tumult and disorder.” It was believed that electing the president directly, without the intermediate step of the electors, might lead to instability. Hamilton argues that electors will be protected from bias since they do not hold any other political office and are separated from electors from other states. Hamilton believed that this system would best ensure that the president was a man of great virtue and ability.

This paper also discusses the provisions for the House of Representatives to elect the president in cases in which no candidate receives a majority of the votes. It furthermore defends the decision to elect the vice-president in much the same way that the president is elected.One of the inherent weaknesses in a government based on the will of the people is the potential for mob rule. This was often the downfall of direct democracies, where all the people decided on public matters directly rather than through representatives. In designing the electoral college, the founders sought to insulate the selection of president from the convulsions of the multitudes. The college was essentially an extra layer of security helping to guarantee that the president would be a truly capable individual.

[NYC Liberal]

3. Because they're Republicans.

Yes if they're going to defect then they should vote for the popular vote winner -- that would be a very solid reason to change votes -- but at the end of the day they're Republicans and they won't vote for HRC.

The best we can hope for is that they vote for someone (relatively) less batshit who would be a palatable option for the House to vote for (since the House chooses from among the top three EV getters).

[HoneyBadger]

4. Bret Chiafalo is not a Republican elector

He is one of a very few named Hamilton electors and he made the news saying that even if his state went for Hillary, he would do whatever he chose to do. I would not assume that they were all Republican electors, because they are not. I think that for the Hamilton electors, this is less about who is President than it is about their freedom to make their own choices. Electoral vote being significantly closer and President Elect having a differing party affiliation from the majority of the House of Representatives is the dream scenario for these electors, because it puts the power in the hands of a very few "regular folks".


"Chiafalo “regular nerdy dude who works for Microsoft” and Baca, a grad student and Marine Corps veteran, insist they’re not seeking the election of Clinton — or even a Democrat. Both, in fact, had already been considering voting against her when the Electoral College meets in five weeks. Rather, they intend to encourage Republican electors to write in Mitt Romney or John Kasich. If enough agree, the election would be sent to the House of Representatives, which would choose from among the top three vote-getters."

[KewlKat]

6. I thought Kasich came out and said don't vote for him.

[lostnfound]

5. They are Republicans before being Americans. Like in North Carolina, they have no fairness. Nt

[NYC Liberal]

7. That they are.