Can the electoral college vote for Clinton instead of Trump?
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 4:04 pm
I've seen this brought up on Facebook a lot, and there is even a petition on change.org to make this happen. I didn't think this could happen but couldn't say why not, so did some research. I thought others might be interested, so here you go:
To summarize the Electoral College - we didn't actually vote for Trump or Clinton on Tuesday, we voted for the electors who will actually vote for Trump or Clinton in December, making them the next President. Only 30 or so states have laws that require the electors to vote for the person who won the election in their state. Even then, the punishment in those 30 states for not doing that isn't severe enough to really stop them from doing so. Therefore, it is technically possible for the electors to vote for Clinton in December - or anyone else I suppose. There have been a few times in history where an elector did go "rogue" and not vote as they should have, but it's never been anywhere near enough to change the election results.
However, here is the big reason there isn't any real possibility of this happening - the electors we voted for on Tuesday were specific to that candidate; Trump had his slate of electors and Clinton had hers. Of course, all of Trumps electors are Republicans, so those are the folks who will be voting in December. Therefore, in order for the Electoral College to elect Clinton, a lot of high-ranking Republicans would have to vote for her. That just ain't going to happen.
To summarize the Electoral College - we didn't actually vote for Trump or Clinton on Tuesday, we voted for the electors who will actually vote for Trump or Clinton in December, making them the next President. Only 30 or so states have laws that require the electors to vote for the person who won the election in their state. Even then, the punishment in those 30 states for not doing that isn't severe enough to really stop them from doing so. Therefore, it is technically possible for the electors to vote for Clinton in December - or anyone else I suppose. There have been a few times in history where an elector did go "rogue" and not vote as they should have, but it's never been anywhere near enough to change the election results.
However, here is the big reason there isn't any real possibility of this happening - the electors we voted for on Tuesday were specific to that candidate; Trump had his slate of electors and Clinton had hers. Of course, all of Trumps electors are Republicans, so those are the folks who will be voting in December. Therefore, in order for the Electoral College to elect Clinton, a lot of high-ranking Republicans would have to vote for her. That just ain't going to happen.
