Commentary
Largest Ever Change.org Petition Asks Electors To Block Donald Trump From Taking Office
- by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, November 17, 2016
Is the Electoral College required to elect Donald Trump when the 538 Electors cast their ballots on December 19 for president of the United States?
Apparently not. A Change.org petition was started last week to urge Electors to do just that: prevent Donald Trump from taking office.
Started by a North Carolina resident, the petition titled “Electoral College: Make Hillary Clinton President on December 19” has now taken hold, garnering over 4.3 million signatures as of Nov. 17.
The petition is now the largest-ever started on Change.org in the United States.
It reads: “If [the Electors] all vote the way their states voted, Donald Trump will win. However, they can vote for Hillary Clinton, if they choose. Even in states where that is not allowed, their vote would still be counted, they would simply pay a small fine --- which we can be sure Clinton supporters will be glad to pay!”
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“We are calling on the Electors to ignore their states’ votes and cast their ballots for Secretary Clinton. Mr. Trump is unfit to serve. His scapegoating of so many Americans, and his impulsivity, bullying, lying, admitted history of sexual assault and utter lack of experience makes him a danger to the Republic.”
According to FactCheck.org, “there is no constitutional provision or Federal law that requires Electors to vote according to the results of the popular vote in their states.” States can ask Electors to pledge to support their state’s eventual choice, with some prescribing fines between $500-$1,000 to the so-called “faithless electors.”
In essence, the Electoral College was created to add an extra step between a fully popular election and the actual choice of who will run the country for the next four years. In the opinion of many, it was created to avoid an unprepared populist like Trump from taking over.
In Federalist No. 68, Alexander Hamilton opined that “the choice of several, to form an intermediate body of electors, will be much less apt to convulse the community with any extraordinary or violent movements, than the choice of one who was himself to be the final object of the public wishes.”
Adding with prescient accuracy, “the process of election affords a moral certainty, that the office of the President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.”
“Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single State; but it will require other talents, and a different kind of merit, to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union.”
In a pre-social-media era, a Donald Trump presidency may have been impossible. Today, the intricacies of the Electoral College have elevated Donald Trump to the highest office in the land.
The Electoral College process failed in 2016 to prevent the rise of a woefully under-prepared demagogue, which is exactly what it was intended to do. Now, the unbound nature of Electors has given rise to the final opportunity to block a Trump presidency.
Two Democratic Electors have already called for their Republican colleagues to block Trump. According to a Politico report, Democratic Electors Bret Chiafolo (Wash.) and Michael Baca (Colo.) are campaigning for Republicans to change their votes.
“This is a long shot,” Chiafolo told Politico. “However, I do see situations where -- when we’ve already had two or three [Republican] electors state publicly they didn’t want to vote for Trump, how many of them have real issues with Donald Trump in private?”
Note: A new Web site for the Change.org petition has been unreachable due to excessive traffic.
With tripe like this being proposed, this Boston boy announces a renewal of the "Sons of Liberty. Tea Party anyone??
Ol' Philip Rosenstein is reporting this in a very calm manner. Can you imagine how many thesaural entries for "outrage" he would use if Hillary had won and Trump's supporters were doing this same thing?
Note: Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. The demagoge did not.
And for those who will inevitably claim, rightly or wrongly, that Trump could have simply changed his campaign strategy and won the popular vote, Hamilton's warning, and the solution, still apply.
Signing such a petition would be more an act of sedition than of courage. The US held a fair and orderly election and should proceed to celebrate the peaceful transition of power. If HRC won and the Trump supporters were suggesting the Electors change their vote despite the will of the people they represent, the Trump supporters would receive 100x more criticism and deserve every bit of it.
If you read the article, I think you'll discover that the "tripe", as you describe it, was proposed, approved and signed-off sometime around 1776.
I believe the tripe that Neil references is the thought of petitioning electors to foreske their obligation, for the first time in the history of the Republic, and decide among themselves who should next lead as President.
Chris Swan: If you read the article, paying specific attention to what Alexander Hamilton stated in Federalist 68, you will see - I hope - the actual intent behind the petition. The petitioners are simply asking the members of the Electoral College to consider performing one the duties they were originally founded to perform.
There is absolutely nothing "seditious" about it. In fact, just the opposite is true. Anyone who thinks that the Electoral College was devised to simply rubber-stamp the election results is very sadly misinformed. Every gear in our Constitutional machinery was designed, debated and ultimately placed with extreme care. None of it was or is superfluous. The petitioners are not demanding a coup. They are doing exactly what our Constitution guarantees they can, and should do.
I can assure you, I read the article and I'll bet Neil Mahoney did as well. Our disagreement with your world view are not the result of commenting without reading.
The states created the national government, and the Electoral College, not the other way around. That's why it takes a concensus of the states, not merely a popular majority, to amend the constitution or elect a President. Clinton's apparent popular vote victory may ease your disappointment, but declaring that metric is a basis to overturn Trump's victory is like a sports fan cliniging to the thought that their team would have won if only the rules were different.