Commentary

Anti-Trump Forces Need 37 Faithless Electors To Block Trump

The electors of the Electoral College meet today, in state capitals and the District of Columbia, to cast their votes for the 45th President of the United States.

Today’s vote is the last barrier to Donald Trump taking office on January 20. Those who will inevitably keep pushing to remove Trump from office will have to shift their focus to Congress and the possibility of impeachment, should fewer than 37 “faithless electors” emerge in opposition to Trump.

While the convening of the electors has long been a formality, that is not the case in 2016. Electors have been receiving thousands of emails and phone calls asking them to cast their ballots against how their states voted. A number of them have even reported death threats.

The largest ever Change.org petition also called on electors to reject Trump, citing that he is unfit to hold the office of president.

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There are a few so-called faithless electors, those who will vote against their state’s popular vote. One such elector, Christopher Suprun of Texas, explained in a New York Times op-ed that he would not vote for Trump, stating, among many other arguments: “Mr. Trump lacks the foreign-policy experience and demeanor needed to be commander in chief.”

In order for Trump to be blocked from becoming president, 37 electors in states that voted for Trump would have to refuse to vote for him.

Lawrence Lessig, a law professor at Harvard, who has been offering free legal advice to electors who may want to vote against Trump, told CNN’s Michael Smerconish that he was confident at least 20 electors were seriously considering changing their votes.

Others report that it is extremely unlikely Trump will be blocked by the electors.

Many electors are bound to vote in favor of their state’s vote and may face a fine or other reprimand should they ignore their constituents. Many have what Lessig calls a “moral duty” to vote with their states in those that require electors to pledge their vote. However, as Lessig explains, electors can deem their vote against Trump as the higher ethical imperative, finding it is an overriding moral duty to refrain from voting for him.

However, even if the Electoral College rejects Trump, he could still become president. If no candidate is chosen by a majority of electors, the U.S. House of Representatives choose between the three candidates who received the most electoral votes -- with each state delegation holding one vote.

As Lessig also told Chuck Todd of NBC: “The Electoral College was made for this election precisely.”

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