At least five Democrats who had been committed to back Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Electoral College cast ballots for other people on Monday, the largest number of “faithless electors” seen in well over a century.
The 538 electors were voting across the country to confirm Republican Donald Trump as the next president. The event is normally a formality but took on extra prominence this year after some Democrats urged electors to revolt and switch to Clinton, who won the national popular vote on Nov. 8.
In the end, it was not Republicans breaking ranks. The Democratic dissidents – four from Washington state and one from Maine – underscored deep divisions within their party and effectively dashed long-shot hopes by some activists that Republicans pledged to Trump might back Clinton.
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The two Republican breaks on Monday came from Texas, where the voting is by secret ballot. One Republican elector voted for Ron Paul, a favorite among Libertarians and former Republican congressman, and another for Ohio Governor John Kasich, who challenged Trump in the race for the Republican nomination.
Republican elector Christopher Suprun from Texas had said he would not vote for Trump, explaining in an op-ed in the New York Times that he had concerns about Trump’s foreign policy experience and business conflicts.
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The move by the five was a rare break from the tradition – and in many states a legal requirement – of casting an Electoral College ballot as directed by the outcome of that state’s popular election.
It appeared to be the largest number of electors not supporting their party’s nominee since 1872, when 63 Democratic electors did not vote for party nominee Horace Greeley, who had died after the election but before the Electoral College convened, according to Fairvote.org. Republican Ulysses S. Grant had won re-election in a landslide
There is almost no chance that Monday’s vote will change the outcome of the election, which gave the White House to Trump after he won a majority of Electoral College votes. The New York businessman is set to take office on Jan. 20.
SYSTEM CALLED INTO QUESTION
Clinton lost last month’s election on a state-by-state basis despite winning the popular vote nationwide by nearly 2.9 million votes, raising questions about the role of the Electoral College, established in 1787.
It was a surprising twist to have Democratic electors change their votes and become what is known as “faithless electors.”
Four of the 12 Democratic electors in Washington state broke ranks, with three voting for Colin Powell, a former Republican secretary of state, and one for Faith Spotted Eagle, a Native American elder who has protested oil pipeline projects in the Dakotas.
Bret Chiafalo, 38, of Everett, Washington, was one of three votes for Powell. He said he knew Clinton would not win but believed Powell was better suited for the job than Trump.
The founding fathers “said the electoral college was not to elect a demagogue, was not to elect someone influenced by foreign powers, was not to elect someone who is unfit for office. Trump fails on all three counts, unlike any candidate we’ve ever seen in American history,” Chiafalo said in an interview.
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In Maine, Democratic elector David Bright said he would cast his vote for Clinton’s rival for the party nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who carried the state in the party nominating contest.
In Colorado, where a state law requires electors to cast their ballots for the winner of the state’s popular vote, elector Michael Bca tried to vote for Ohio’s Republican governor, John Kasich – and was replaced. Baca had waged an unsuccessful legal battle against the law.
In Hawaii, one of the state’s four Democratic electors cast a ballot for Sanders in defiance of state law binding electors to the state’s Election Day outcome, according to reports from the Los Angeles Times and Honolulu Star-Advertiser newspapers.
In Colorado, where a state law requires electors to cast their ballots for the winner of the state’s popular vote, elector Michael Baca tried to vote for Kasich – but was replaced with another elector.
In Minnesota, one of the state’s 10 electors would not cast his vote for Clinton as required under state law, prompting his dismissal and an alternate to be sworn in. All 10 of the state’s electoral votes were then cast for her.
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The Electoral College votes will be officially counted during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6.
‘FAITHLESS ELECTORS’
Twenty-four states have laws trying to prevent electors – most of whom have close ties to their parties – from going rogue. But once in a while, “faithless electors” will ignore their pledge and change their vote.
The most recent instance of a “faithless elector” was in 2004, according to the Congressional Research Service. There have been just eight since 1900, each in a different election.
Some Democrats had urged Republican electors to change their votes to Clinton because of her victory in the popular vote.
That outcome, combined with allegations by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia hacked into Democratic Party emails to try to sway the election for Trump, has put the spotlight on the Electoral College and spurred calls for constitutional reforms.
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The Electoral College assigns each state electors equal to its number of representatives and senators in Congress.
When voters go to the polls to cast a ballot for president, they are actually choosing a presidential candidate’s preferred slate of electors for their state.
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