30 Republican electors could 'betray' Mr. Trump

At least 30 Republican electors are ready to break their pledge and vote to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president, a Harvard law professor said on December 13.

US President-elect Donald Trump. (Photo: Reuters)

“We believe, based on surveys of three Republican elector support groups, that there are currently 20 electors who are ready to defect, and some have told me that the actual number is higher than that and could be as high as 30,” Lessig said in an interview with MSNBC on the evening of December 13. “Obviously, whether an elector ultimately votes according to their conscience depends in part on whether enough people do so. We now believe that there are more than half the number needed to change the outcome when they vote.”

However, he did not provide evidence to support this information. If the above information is true, this will be a positive signal for those who are launching a campaign not to vote for President-elect Trump.

Mr. Trump won the presidential election on November 8. Although his popular vote was about 2.7 million lower than that of his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, he was still elected thanks to victories in key states and 306 electoral votes, surpassing the minimum threshold of 270 votes to become president.

Under the US electoral college system, the candidate who wins the popular vote in a state (except Maine and Nebraska) wins all the electoral votes in that state. However, the US Constitution does not have any provision that prohibits electors from not voting for the winning candidate in their state.

In reality, however, it is rare for an elector to go against the popular vote. According to the US National Archives, in the history of the “land of the free,” more than 99% of electors have voted exactly as they pledged.

Earlier this month, US media reported that at least 10 electors had joined a campaign to urge their colleagues in the Electoral College not to vote for Mr. Trump. Their goal is to convince at least 37 electors to withdraw their support for the New York billionaire. So far, only one Republican elector, Mr. Chris Suprun of Texas, has publicly stated that he will not vote for Mr. Trump on December 19, even if Mr. Trump wins this state.

Electors from states across the United States will meet on December 19 to officially vote for the next president.

According to Dan Tri