The Electoral College drops its vote on December 19th, and the public electors are feeling the heat to become “faithless.”
Throughout U.S. history, only 178 electors have ever switched their vote.
The largest contingent of vote switchers occurred in 1872. Sixty-three electors dropped their vote for the Liberal Republican Candidate (yes, that was a party) Horace Greeley. Those 63 electors didn’t necessarily have an issue with Greeley’s policies or behavior; they switched their vote because he died weeks after losing to Grant.
(Interesting side note: Horace Greeley, a “perennial” establishment politician was from Chappaqua, NY, where Hillary Clinton now resides.)
Fast forward to 2016 and talk of “Faithless Electors” is at an all-time high and the electors themselves are feeling the heat thanks to modern communication.
Electors in Georgia who are pledged to Trump, have noted that they are “bombarded with messages” and one elector, Baoky Nguyen Vu has already resigned after saying he cannot bring himself to vote for President-Elect Trump.
Thanks to Mr. Vu’s resignation instead of faithless vote, he has been replaced by an alternate.
In Idaho, the four electors pledge to Trump have stated they have been “recipients of intense public lobbying to abandon Donald Trump.”
Iowa has also seen increased requests for the contact information for their six Trump electors.
Spokesmen from yet another state, Michigan, have commented that they are also being “bombarded” with messages to switch their vote from Trump and Pence.
Even in Tennessee, electors pledged to Trump have received so many “anti-Trump email” that they regard the continued contact as “harassment.”
Despite the intense pressure electors around the nation are receiving, so far, only four have indicated they will vote for a candidate other than the one they are pledged to . . . and two of those electors are pledge to Hillary Clinton.
Two electors in Colorado, a state won by Clinton, had previously stated they are not with her.
In Texas, one elector, Stephen Suprun, has indicated he will be voting for John “Waterworks” Kasich while another, Arthur Sisneros states that “Trump is not biblically qualified for the Presidency.”
With an equal number of defections, Trump is comfortably set to steam roll into Inauguration Day.
