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Electoral College Map Update: One Electoral College Member Sues To Become Faithless Elector, How To Contact Electoral College The Right Way

By Christine Beswick
Published on: 04:24 PST, Nov 27, 2016

There is a movement happening where electoral college members that are opponents of Donald Trump are intending on voting against him when the electoral college meets to select a President on December 19 reports the L.A. Times. The movement is multi-pronged, all working to change the initial 2016 results of the electoral college map that has Donald Trump leading Hillary Clinton in the electoral college.

There are at least four petitions online asking the electoral college to vote with their conscience and vote for the presidential candidate that obtained the popular vote in Elections 2016. Combined, the petitions amass over 5.2 million signatures and counting. The Change.org petition has 4.6 million signatures, a Move On petition has over 500 thousand, and an Electoral College petition has been launched as well.

A GoFundMe page has also been established by one organizer and has reached over 27 thousand dollars to fund the faithless elector campaign. Its intent is to provide funds to electors that are planning to defect from their state’s popular vote and vote against Donald Trump for President, a process called becoming a faithless elector.

Additionally, a movement on Facebook called Hamilton Electors has been launched for the same purpose. Also, at least one member of the electoral college has retained legal counsel and plans to sue, in their efforts to become a faithless elector come December 19 the legal way reports the Hill.

Not all members of the electoral college that are planning to defect plan on voting for Hillary Clinton. But that Hillary Clinton leads in the popular vote by over 2 million votes at the time of press, is a fact that is strengthening the movement of the faithless elector, a movement that continues to grow every day. A #ShesOurPresident trend has also begun on Twitter as a result.

The L.A. Times reports on how the electoral college works, noting that the electoral college is made up of 538 members who will choose the president come December 19. When Americans vote on election day, they cast their votes in the historical two wooden boxes in their state, and whichever candidate wins the state by the most votes, wins the electoral college votes.

The person who makes it to the magic number of 270 first, or 270 electoral college votes first, once all state votes have been tallied, will become president.

It’s a system that many are protesting, even Bernie Sanders.

The original intent of the framers of the Constitution was for the electoral college members to “correct the mistakes” of the people if they tried to vote someone into office that was not qualified or fit for office reports the L.A. Times in an electoral college primer. This is the argument that many are using in their efforts to ask the electoral college to vote against Trump come December 19.

So for, Donald Trump has won 290 votes in the electoral college, but the electoral college has not voted yet. Some that are slated to vote for him, are saying they will not vote the way their state did. One electoral college member has even retained legal counsel, and will take his fight to court reports The Hill.

Michael Baca, a Democrat from Colorado, is currently slated to vote for Hillary Clinton, but he has retained counsel that has said that a lawsuit is in the works to challenge state laws that force the electoral college members to vote with their party’s nominee, reports The Hill. The Hill also reports that there are as many as six members of the electoral college that will become “faithless electors” and will vote for someone other than their party’s nominee.

A Republican from Texas, Art Sisneros, has not made his decision yet reports The Hill.

The L.A. Times reports that the “Constitution is silent” when it comes to whether or not electors are forced to go the way of their state, suggesting that electors should be able to become faithless electors without consequence. The L.A. Times also says if state restrictions to vote the party way were challenged in court, they would likely be struck down for the elector wishing to go “faithless,” due to the Constitution’s silence on the matter.

At least two high-profile lawyers have gone public to say they will take on the cases of electoral college members, pro bono, if they wish to change the electoral college map of election night, and become faithless electors.

As the L.A. Times reports, if enough electors defect from voting the way their state did in the electoral college map that resulted in Donald Trump becoming President-elect, that means that the top three candidates that get votes from the electoral college on December 19 would go to Congress to make the final decision.

This would not be unprecedented. It would make history if enough faithless electors did not vote with their state, but it wouldn’t be the first time it has happened. The L.A. Times reports that it has also happened in 1800 and 1824.

Many people think that because the Congress is Republican controlled, this favors Trump. In a way, it does.

But, during the election campaign, many Republicans were very vocal in saying they thought he was reckless and unfit to be President. 50 high-ranking members of the Republican party even signed a letter saying they didn’t think he should be President.

In August of this year, BBC reports that 50 high-ranking Republicans and national security experts said they would not vote for Trump, saying he “weakens U.S. moral authority” and that he as follows.

“Appears to lack basic knowledge about and belief in the U.S. Constitution, U.S. laws, and U.S. institutions, including religious tolerance, freedom of press, and an independent judiciary.”

It is unclear how many Republicans still feel this way. What is clear, is that a lot of people don’t want Donald Trump to take the oath to swear to uphold the Constitution and become president.

As the Inquisitr previously reported, former White House legal counsel to George Bush Richard Painter has already said that the electoral college can not vote for someone that may be in violation of the Constitution due to conflict of interest concerns, and violation of the emolument clause concerns.

Members of the public wishing to continue voicing their concerns about the 2016 electoral college map outcome, can do so on any one of the petitions. There is also a website geared strictly for the public to “Ask the Electors” anything.

On this page are letters from the American people writing open letters to the electoral college from a place of the founding fathers and patriotism, voicing their concerns about Donald Trump on everything from his temperament, election hacking, to his conflicts of interest.

John from Warwick, New York, writes as follows.

” Dear Electors, We have observed that Hillary Clinton has received 2 million more votes than Donald Trump and that there is a lot of evidence that proves the vote totals in key swing states have been altered in favor of Trump. Please check Constitution and see that one cannot be allowed to preside over this country with the conflicts of interest that are in place for Trump. Please vote to enable Hillary Clinton to be the 45th president of the United States of America! Thank you. I appreciate and respect the role you serve in our electoral process.”

Millisa from Florida writes as follows.

“Dear Electors, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, by over two million and counting. Donald Trumps conflict of interests and erratic behavior makes him a danger to our country and the world. There will be a constitutional crisis the day he enters office. He will be impeached. In the mean time, he can do and already has done a lot of damage to our country. Democracy should be the will of the people. Every vote should count. I believe our founding father would see your vote as a true act of patriotism.”

Here are two members of the electoral college, that will vote for the next round of electoral college map results, telling their views on Fox News about their intentions come December 19.

Anyone can leave an open letter to the members of Electoral College, asking them to change the current electoral college map and vote with their conscience as the Constitution requires. Over 83 thousand members of the public have already posted their own letter on this website. The public is certainly leaving a lot of food for thought for the electoral college to chew on come December 19.

[Feature Image by Tim Roske/AP Images]

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