The election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United State has caused many in America to doubt the Electoral College system. Reportedly there is a movement to deny Trump the presidency by electors refusing to cast their ballots for Trump when they meet on Dec. 19. The rebel electors are known as “faithless electors” and most states have penalties associated with a refusal to cast a ballot per election results. Presently, at least six electors are stating that they will not cast their vote for Trump and are asking other electors to join them.
A total of 37 electors must refuse to cast votes for Trump in order for his election to be challenged. If this happens and Trump does not receive 270 of the 538 electoral votes, the process then moves to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. It is expected that the House would still vote Trump into office. In the past, there have been 157 faithless electors who changed their votes over 228 years. It is a long shot for Democratic electors to get Republican electors to change their votes but that has not stopped activists from trying. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly two million votes, however, Trump had a resounding Electoral win. For many in the Republican Party, this is proof that the voters have spoken. Adding to the debate is a group of computer scientists who are encouraging Clinton to demand a recount due to possible hacking or manipulation of votes in three states.
Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, has stated that there is a questionable trend of Clinton performing worse in counties that relied on electronic voting machines compared to paper ballots and optical scanners. The group of computer experts headed by Halderman claim that Clinton received 7 percent fewer votes in counties that relied on electronic voting machines, which the group said could have been hacked. The states in question are Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. The experts met with Clinton campaign manager John Podesta and informed him of their findings but there is no word if Clinton will dispute the results and ask for a recount.
