# Count down to December 19th ... Electorial College voting day **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 10, 2016, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359 "2016-11-10T14:31:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/1 "2016-11-10T14:31:41Z")
Just when you thought it was all over: > **[The one scenario that could still get Hillary into the White House](https://nypost.com/2016/11/09/the-one-scenario-that-could-still-get-hillary-into-the-white-house/)** > > For die-hard Democrats holding out hope that they won’t have to live through a Trump presidency, there is a last, incredibly long shot for them latch on to — a surprise twist in the Electoral Colle… > [@](#): > > For diehard Democrats holding out hope that they won’t have to live through a Donald Trump presidency, there is a last, incredibly long shot for them latch onto — a surprise twist in the Electoral College. > > Though Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 200,000, Trump has won the minimum of 270 electoral votes necessary to be elected president. As of late Wednesday, he had 290 to Clinton’s 228. > > According to the Constitution, chosen electors of the Electoral College are the real people who will vote for president, when they meet on Dec. 19 in their respective state capitals. > > However, there is nothing stopping any of the electors from refusing to support the candidate to whom they were bound or abstaining from voting. The new US Congress meets January 3rd and of course we already know how they will vote … unless the GOP has cross overs that is. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/2 "2016-11-10T15:55:03Z")
The 290 Trump electors are all Republicans. They will vote how their states told them to vote on Tuesday. Trump is going to be President, and we can all just deal with it. Impeachment isn’t happening, the EC isn’t going to defect to Clinton, the rape/fraud trials will fail to convict Trump of any wrongdoing, and he will be sworn in on January 20th. I don’t like it, but thems the facts. ---
**Author:** ![Celidin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Celidin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celidin)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/3 "2016-11-10T16:08:35Z")
Where’s the 290 number coming from? Google still has it at 279-228 with NH, MI, AZ still un-awarded (NH leaning Clinton, the other two leaning Trump) ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/4 "2016-11-10T16:18:14Z")
I just repeated what Mr Quatro posted from the NY Post. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/5 "2016-11-10T16:24:18Z")
Getting 2-3 faithless electors to defect is one thing. Getting 10-20 to do so is another. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/6 "2016-11-10T16:31:09Z")
A big NO to any attempt to undo the election in the Electoral College. It would likely fail, of course, but that’s far from the worst of it. It would certainly pave the way for future attempts to try to do the same. It would turn such attempts into just another form of politics-as-usual, which is a horrible thing to contemplate. And for those of us who, like me, are of a left-of-center bent, think on this: which party, do you think, would do a better job, be more likely to meet with success, in such shenanigans? Yeah, that’s my thought too. If you don’t want a future Dem win to be undone in the EC, don’t mess with this one. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/7 "2016-11-10T17:04:35Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > A big NO to any attempt to undo the election in the Electoral College. > > It would likely fail, of course, but that’s far from the worst of it. > > If you don’t want a future Dem win to be undone in the EC, don’t mess with this one. The only thing worse than a Trump presidency is an Electoral College revolt giving the election to Clinton. We will become hopelessly divided and all faith in the process, on both sides, will be shattered. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/8 "2016-11-10T17:15:12Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > The 290 Trump electors are all Republicans. They will vote how their states told them to vote on Tuesday. Trump is going to be President, and we can all just deal with it. Impeachment isn’t happening, the EC isn’t going to defect to Clinton, the rape/fraud trials will fail to convict Trump of any wrongdoing, and he will be sworn in on January 20th. > > I don’t like it, but thems the facts. How can you say Tuesday? The electroial college meets Monday, December 19th … This is already the crazest and most unusual National election contest in American history, everyone is saying so. Why not one more crazy loop of the roller coaster? Is it still possible for Hillary to win due to a mistake in the belief that all of the electorial voters will remain faithful to their State’s results in the last election? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/9 "2016-11-10T17:27:56Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > How can you say Tuesday? The electroial college meets Monday, December 19th … > > This is already the crazest and most unusual National election contest in American history, everyone is saying so. Why not one more crazy loop of the roller coaster? > > Is it still possible for Hillary to win due to a mistake in the belief that all of the electorial voters will remain faithful to their State’s results in the last election? Again, if Trump were leading in the EC by only 270-268, then it wouldn’t be far-fetched at all that 2-3 Trump electors would defect to Hillary. But given that Trump looks like he will get over 300 EVs, you’d need maybe 19 Trump electors to defect. That’s about nigh impossible. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/10 "2016-11-10T17:29:33Z")
Undo the results of the election… what could possibly go wrong? Folks just need to get over it. Trump won. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/11 "2016-11-10T17:41:35Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > How can you say Tuesday? The electroial college meets Monday, December 19th … > > This is already the crazest and most unusual National election contest in American history, everyone is saying so. Why not one more crazy loop of the roller coaster? > > Is it still possible for Hillary to win due to a mistake in the belief that all of the electorial voters will remain faithful to their State’s results in the last election? Because the majority of the EC is made up of Republicans who support Trump, support their party, and pledged to vote how their state told them to vote the day before yesterday. And if you think a Trump presidency will be bad, wait until the majority of the country gets told the election they just spent a year participating in will be ignored because of a technically legal nullification of their democratic voice. The “cure” is worse than the disease. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/12 "2016-11-10T18:56:26Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Because the majority of the EC is made up of Republicans who support Trump, support their party, and pledged to vote how their state told them to vote the day before yesterday. Did you find that data on google? Do these special people have one vote each? ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/13 "2016-11-10T19:05:20Z")
> [@Celidin](#): > > Where’s the 290 number coming from? Google still has it at 279-228 with NH, MI, AZ still un-awarded (NH leaning Clinton, the other two leaning Trump) Arizona seems like the obvious choice, since it has 11 electoral college votes (279+11=290), and Trump won by a bit more than 4 points there with 100% of the precincts reporting. NH and MI on the other hand, are both within a few tenths of a percentage of each other. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/14 "2016-11-10T19:16:11Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > Did you find that data on google? Do these special people have one vote each? It’s in the Constitution. Yes, they all have one vote each. The parties select the slate of electors that you are actually voting for in a presidential election. States can make up their own rules but they all are essentially the same. Unfaithful Electors can happen, and have a few times, but nothing on the order of magnitude needed here to change the results. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/15 "2016-11-10T19:39:39Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > Did you find that data on google? Do these special people have one vote each? > **[United States Electoral College](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College_(United_States))** > > In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years during the presidential election for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president. The process is described in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. The number of electoral votes a state has equals its number of Senators (2) plus its number of Representatives in the House of Representatives, the latter being dependent on the Census's reported population. Each s... ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/16 "2016-11-10T19:43:28Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > A big NO to any attempt to undo the election in the Electoral College. > > It would likely fail, of course, but that’s far from the worst of it. > > It would certainly pave the way for future attempts to try to do the same. It would turn such attempts into just another form of politics-as-usual, which is a horrible thing to contemplate. > > And for those of us who, like me, are of a left-of-center bent, think on this: which party, do you think, would do a better job, be more likely to meet with success, in such shenanigans? > > Yeah, that’s my thought too. If you don’t want a future Dem win to be undone in the EC, don’t mess with this one. > [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > The only thing worse than a Trump presidency is an Electoral College revolt giving the election to Clinton. We will become hopelessly divided and all faith in the process, on both sides, will be shattered. Methinks it already has been. Getting a head start on the race to the bottom has paid off for the GOP in 2016. This does not bode well for the 2020 campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/17 "2016-11-10T23:26:09Z")
Count down to December 19th … Electorial College voting day Hey, that’s my birthday. What a nice present his confirmation will be! ---
**Author:** ![Celidin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Celidin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celidin)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/18 "2016-11-11T00:16:16Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Arizona seems like the obvious choice, since it has 11 electoral college votes (279+11=290), and Trump won by a bit more than 4 points there with 100% of the precincts reporting. NH and MI on the other hand, are both within a few tenths of a percentage of each other. Right. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/19 "2016-11-11T00:22:59Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > If you don’t want a future Dem win to be undone in the EC, don’t mess with this one. If the Democratic base voted for Michael Moore to become President, I’d be damn well hoping that the EC did its job and elected based on the merit of the candidate rather than based on what a bunch of idiots thought they wanted. As noted, that is their job. Maybe not according to their state, but certainly according to the Constitution and its writers. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359/20 "2016-11-11T01:55:40Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > How can you say Tuesday? The electroial college meets Monday, December 19th … > > This is already the crazest and most unusual National election contest in American history, everyone is saying so. Why not one more crazy loop of the roller coaster? > > Is it still possible for Hillary to win due to a mistake in the belief that all of the electorial voters will remain faithful to their State’s results in the last election? I think he meant on Tuesday, election day. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/count-down-to-december-19th-electorial-college-voting-day/771359.md?page=2)