As the right-wing specter of a Donald Trump presidency looms, Democratic electors are fomenting an unprecedented revolt in order to block Trump from taking a majority of Electoral College votes.
Politico reports that “at least a half-dozen Democratic electors” have agreed to the effort, which they also hope will serve to “undermine the legitimacy of the institution”:
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The two electors leading the effort, Michael Baca and Bret Chiafalo (from Colorado and Washington state, respectively), refer to themselves as the Hamilton Electors. Founding father and first Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton wrote that the Electoral College exists so that “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.”
“We’re trying to be that ‘break in case of emergency’ fire hose that’s gotten dusty over the last 200 years,” Chaifolo told the Atlantic. “This is an emergency.”
Chiafalo and Baca write on their site that “we hope that Electors from both red and blue states will answer the Founding Fathers’ call, deliberate, and unite behind an alternative Republican Candidate: the Hamilton Candidate.”
It is unclear how many electors plan to be “faithless,” meaning they’ll refuse to vote for their party’s candidate, notes Politico. The outlet adds: “Already, the six Democrats prepared to be ‘faithless’ electors would be the most to defect from their party’s presidential candidate since 1872, when Democratic nominee Horace Greeley died before electors cast their votes. The last time that many electors rejected a living presidential candidate was 1808.”
The electors will cast their votes for president on December 19.
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