The Electoral College is voting to elect the next President of the United States today. The Electoral College is usually a formality vote in which officials from each of the 50 states vote according to which candidate won the popular vote in their state.
This year, organized protests from the Left and pleas from celebrities such as Martin Sheen and Debra Messing have brought the Electoral College into the spotlight. Donald Trump is poised to win the vote, despite their efforts.
Electors will meet to cast their votes at their respective state capitals throughout today. CBSNews has built a schedule of when each state’s electors will vote here.
There are reports of “faithless electors” who plan to cast their ballots against the candidate who won their state. Two Democratic electors in Washington state have considered voting against Clinton, even if she won their state. Robert Satiacum told the Seattle Times he would not vote for Hillary Clinton, no matter the outcome:
“No, no, no on Hillary. Absolutely not. No way… I hope it comes down to a swing vote and it’s me… Good. She ain’t getting it. Maybe it’ll wake this country up.”
Bret Chiafalo, an elector from Everett, Washington, also indicated he would vote against Clinton, but made no commitment. Both Satiacum and Chiafalo supported Bernie Sanders in the Democrat Primary. Hillary Clinton won Washington state on November 8th.
At least one Republican elector has committed to vote against Trump, according to ABC News:
“ABC News has identified only one elector pledged to Trump — Chris Suprun from Texas — who has said he won’t vote for the Republican candidate. Suprun in an interview on ABC News’ “Nightline” this week referred to the Russian hacking, saying he was “concerned when a foreign government intrudes on our elections. They’re not doing it with our best interest in mind. I don’t think we deserve a classified briefing but I do think we should get as many facts as information we can without compromising sources or methods that the intelligence community can provide.””
No matter the outcome, 2016 has been and will continue to be an unprecedented election year.
Update: Dec. 19th, 4:50 pm ET:
Current Electoral Votes are: Donald Trump: 256; Hillary Clinton: 139; Other: 4.
Four “faithless electors” from Washington state have refused to cast their vote for Hillary Clinton. 3 votes went to Colin Powell and 1 went to Faith Spotted Eagle, according to local news source, KONO News. Colin Powell is a former Secretary of State for the Bush administration and Faith Spotted Eagle is a Native American tribal leader.
The fine for a “faithless elector” in Washington is $1,000.
One elector from Maine attempted to vote for Bernie Sander. However, his vote was ruled out of order and he was forced to vote for Clinton.
Update: Dec. 19th, 5:00 pm ET:
Current Electoral Votes are: Donald Trump: 259; Hillary Clinton: 166; Other, 4.
Update: Dec. 19th, 5:20: pm ET:
Current Electoral Votes are: Donald Trump: 268; Hillary Clinton: 166; Other, 4.
Two additional electors, one from Minnesota and one from Colorado, refused to vote for Clinton. Both were were dismissed and replaced by alternates electors who then voted for Clinton.
Update: Dec. 19th, 5:45: pm ET:
Trump Wins The Electoral College!
Current Electoral Votes are: Donald Trump: 304; Hillary Clinton: 166; Other, 6.
Two Republican electors in Texas cast their votes for Ron Paul and John Kasich.
