To supporters of Hillary Clinton, the number looks intoxicating: 155 electors in states where the popular vote went for Donald Trump — some by slim margins — who apparently aren’t legally bound to vote for the GOP presidential nominee when the Electoral College meets Dec. 19. Solicit them like lobbyists schmooze members of Congress, right? Persuade just a portion, and you’ve got the first woman president, winner of the popular vote, certified by a constitutional authority. She’s got 232 in the bag. She would need 38 “faithless electors” to win this game. That’s the problem with this particular political fantasy. Though electors in several states report that they’re getting thousands of emails, letters and even telephone calls to ask them to switch their votes, they’re among the Republican Party’s most loyal members.
“I fully intend to vote for Donald Trump,” said Jim Skaggs of Bowling Green, Ky., one of that state’s eight electors, who added that he really doesn’t like Trump. “It’s not a law, I don’t think. … But I think it’s a duty.” He’s right. Kentucky is one of 28 states, according to the Congressional Research Service and additional USA TODAY research, that don’t mandate their electors to vote for the winner of their state’s popular vote. The Constitution and federal law are silent on the matter.
More than 4.5 million supporters have signed a Change.org petition advocating electors’ change of heart, but the desire is little more than a pipe dream, election experts said. Two Democratic electors in Colorado and Washington state, where Clinton won the electoral votes and electors are obligated under state law to vote for her, have launched their own movement that they’ve dubbed “Moral Electors” to achieve the same result — or more likely throw the decision to the House of Representatives as happened in 1824.
“This is a long shot. It’s a Hail Mary,” P. Bret Chiafalo of Everett, Wash., told Politico. “However, I do see situations where — when we’ve already had two or three (Republican) electors state publicly they didn’t want to vote for Trump. How many of them have real issues with Donald Trump in private?”
Full Article: Harassment or Hail Mary? Electors feel besieged.