Jonathan Bernstein: “In 2016, an unusual number of ‘faithless’ electors did not vote for the candidate they were supposed to. Five Democrats failed to support Hillary Clinton and two Republicans didn’t vote for Donald Trump. Three more Democrats attempted to defect but were blocked by state laws.”
“Although the 2016 election was abnormal in several respects, individual electors have defected six different times over the past 40 years. Most of them were likely engaging in symbolic protests, and would’ve acted differently had the contest been close. But it’s certainly possible that faithless electors could change a future election result, either deliberately or accidentally if enough of them in a close contest all think that they’re casting harmless protest votes.”
“There’s no justification for any of it. Whether one supports the Electoral College or not, personal choices by the electors simply aren’t part of the system – and never have been, despite the Framers’ intentions, basically since the Constitution was adopted.”
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