The Electoral College meets one week from today in what will be the final step in Donald Trump's improbable rise to the presidency. But it will also be the last chance for #NeverTrump dead-enders to keep Trump out of the White House. And now, the anti-Trump effort has been given new fuel by allegations of Russian attempts to interfere with the presidential election.
Trump won 306 electoral votes. There are 306 electors, actual people, who are expected to vote for him next Monday in Electoral College meetings in state capitals across the country. Trump's total is 36 more than the 270 required to become president. With that in mind, a group of Trump resisters is hoping to convince 37 Trump electors to vote for someone else on Monday, taking Trump just below the magic 270 mark. If that were to happen, Trump would not become president.
The hope is to create one of two scenarios. If rogue electors vote for candidates other than Hillary Clinton, who won 232 electoral votes on Election Day, then no candidate would have 270 and the election would be thrown to the House of Representatives. If the 37, plus one more, voted for Clinton, she would reach 270 and become president.
"This election is not in the books," said Chris Suprun, a Texas Republican elector who says he will not vote for Trump, at a news conference Sunday. "While we have been perhaps remiss in thinking it is, Dec. 19 is when ballots will be cast."
Suprun would not reveal who he will vote for, but said it will not be Clinton. "While I have not chosen my candidate, I am going to vote for another Republican, someone who I think can unite our country and will do so effectively without the issues that Mr. Trump faces that disqualify him from the presidency," Suprun said.
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04.28.2024