Protesters seek electoral revolt

EVEN though their chances of success are slim, many Democrats are looking at the Electoral College vote yesterday as the last barrier to keep Republican Donald Trump out of the White House.

When US voters cast their ballots on November 8, they did not directly elect the next president but rather 538 “electors” charged with translating their wishes into reality.

Trump won a clear majority of those electors – 306, with 270 needed for election – despite losing the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton by nearly three million votes.

Yesterday the electors – most of whom are party members with little name recognition – convened in each state plus the District of Columbia to officially designate the next president and vice-president.

Following an extraordinarily vitriolic campaign, this step in the electoral process, which is normally a mere formality, had been thrust into the spotlight.

To prevent Trump from becoming president, Democratic activists must convince at least 37 Republican electors to abandon their candidate.

One Texas Republican elector, Christopher Suprun, had publicly said that he will not vote for Trump.

Trump “shows daily he is not qualified for the office”, Suprun wrote in The New York Times this month.

“The election of the next president is not yet a done deal. Electors of conscience can still do the right thing for the good of the country,” he wrote.

An online petition calling on electors to reject Trump has collected about five million supporters.

Hollywood stars including Martin Sheen (President Bartlet on the TV series West Wing) recently released a video to goad electors to dump Trump.

If Trump were to lose the electoral college vote it would be up to the House of Representatives – controlled by Republicans – to designate the successor to President Barack Obama.

But there is no evidence enough Republican electors abandon Trump.

States are given several days to report their numbers and congress will announce the name of the winner on January 6, two weeks before the next president is to be inaugurated.

Russia’s alleged cyber hack that many Democrats believe gravely wounded Clinton added an extra layer of drama to the electoral college vote.

Ten electors wrote an open letter to National Intelligence director James Clapper seeking an intelligence briefing on the matter ahead of their vote. — AFP that will