It has been a little over a month since Donald Trump pulled off the biggest upset in political history to win the presidency. Amidst the shock and outrage that followed, a plan arose to stop Trump from taking charge of the country. It involved thousands attempting to sway electors to change their votes in order to prevent the Republican nominee from reaching the coveted 270 votes needed to officially win the election. Funds have been raised to pay the $1000 penalty that an elector would face if he or she voted against the popular vote of their state, however the proposition that the outcome of the election could change on Monday or even be contested is simply impossible.
Donald Trump won the Electoral College by a margin of 306-232, despite trailing in the popular vote by over two million votes. Trump achieved this by winning the rust belt states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin which had not swung red in decades. Those states alone, which were preserved to be the “Blue Wall” locked up for the democrats, accounted for a combined 64 electoral votes and became the ultimate difference maker on election night. Trump performed better than every poll predicted, and now he is set to assume the office of President of the United States. “But wait! What if the electors decide not to vote for him? I mean, they can’t really vote for him, he’s crazy, he’ll get us all killed, he’ll deport all the Muslims and Mexicans, he hates women.” Said panicking democrats who scrambled to find ways to avoid the reality of losing. To them I say, it isn’t that simple.
Despite what you may have heard, the Electoral College is not made up of a bunch of rogue people who no one knows. It is not a major conspiracy with a mastermind pulling the strings. The electors are chosen by the political parties and are often the major donors to the campaign and friends of the nominee. For instance, Bill Clinton is an elector for New York who will most certainly cast his vote for his wife. If the Republican Party had the slightest belief that the people they planned to entrust with the election results would not vote for Trump, then they would not have selected them. “What about that elector who said he would vote against Trump despite the will of his state?” They begged. First off, even if that story was true, that is only one elector. 36 others would have to do the same thing in order to cost Trump the presidency. And for those of you who think that’s possible, I would like to take you back in time.
The year was 2000, the country was fresh off the heels of an 8 year presidency led by a charismatic democrat. The Democrats nominated a prominent member of his administration despite a lack of charisma, and the Republicans nominated a quick witted, charismatic, albeit slightly inept candidate with name recognition. Sound familiar? As many of you know, Al Gore won the popular vote, but George W. Bush won the Electoral College just barely by a score of 271-266. Despite fears of a Bush presidency, outrage over the popular vote not deciding the result, and only needing two electors to change their votes, Bush was elected President. If two electors wouldn’t change their votes for George W. Bush, then why would 37 change their votes for Donald Trump?
I understand the frustration with our election system, and it is a shame that the popular vote does not decide the election as it should. However, Donald Trump won under the system we have followed since the days of George Washington. Now is not the time to plot to stop him from taking charge in a month, it is time for unity. There will be time to change the process in the coming years, but to concern ourselves with the extreme improbability, and frankly the impossibility of the electors voting against the will of their states, is just ridiculous.
