AP: Washington Democratic elector says he will not vote for Clinton

[Crumpets]

Didn't WA delegates go to Sanders because he won the caucus handily? The primaries were just a formalities IIRC and no delegates were awarded based on that

Yes, and our delegates voted for Sanders at the convention. This is the general, where I'm guessing Sanders isn't going to get a full 1/12 of the vote. I'd actually be more okay with it if he was voting for Trump, since that's at least slightly more fair to how we are voting.

[TDantuono]

Congratulations President Trump

[PresidentSamTilden]

Wow, man. A Native American protest vote. I'd almost agree with the dude, but, how is helping Trump any better? You think that dude cares about Native Americans? Lol...

[Bojack Horseman]

Jesus H. Christ. Is there any way the state Democratic Party can fire this guy and replace him with someone who wouldn't be willing to potentially throw the election to Donald Trump?

[Erich Maria Remarque]

Jesus H. Christ. Is there any way the state Democratic Party can fire this guy and replace him with someone who wouldn't be willing to potentially throw the election to Donald Trump?

Lol, this "guy" is Hillary Clinton, because she is literally the only reason why we might "potentially throw the election to Donald Trump", no?

FBI is now trying to fire this "guy' and replace "him" with Kaine or whoever it might be who will win the election in landslide.

[Ronnie]

Looks like we have to call it the 273 EV freiwal from now on.

[Eraserhead]

This is an old story.

Also, why are people assuming he's a Sanders supporter?

[eric82oslo]

Wow. What a self-righteous douche. What a smack in the face to the 52% of Washingtonians - a group disproportionately composed of women and minorities - who voted for Clinton in the primary.

48% of Washington Democrats wanted Bernie, is it too much to ask for one, just one elector, 8% of the total electors, to represent their voices?  That seems pretty fair to me, unless you think their voices do not deserve to be heard.

Read in Bernie's voice.

We all support Bernie. Most of us at least. The alternative to Hillary is not Bernie however, it's Trump. Who repesents everything that Bernie has ever been fighting for his entire life. I believe that Bernie is in fact far, far, far more scare of a potential Trump presidency than Hillary is herself. It would be to sh**t all over Bernie's image and everything he has ever done in his life to indirectly vote for Trump in this way and potentially throw even the presidency his way.

[Rand]

Hillary has enough of an electoral vote buffer to counter one or two faithless electors. Trump sheep wish they were fortunate enough for one faithless elector to cost her the election--says a lot about their bankrupt, illiterate, short attention span candidate's chances to win the election on his own merits.

[Orser67]

Wow. What a self-righteous douche.

[ursulahx]

This guy said the same thing a month ago. If the Clinton campaign were worried, they'd have replaced him (assuming they have that power). Either they think he's full of it, or they know they can win without him.

[Slow Learner]

This is an old story.

Also, why are people assuming he's a Sanders supporter?

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Literally in the excerpt posted.

[Tender Branson]

That's idiotic.

Electors should be forced to vote for their winner or the EC should be abolished altogether. The EV splits by CD in Maine and Nebraska should also be abolished.

[President Johnson]

Time to tell him: You're fired!

[dax00]

If this would decide the election to 269-268-1, would the GOP House just accept Clinton or would they go on and vote for Trump?

The House would probably deadlock, and whoever the Senate elects as VP would become president.

multiple ballots until somebody receives a majority. it must be one of the 3 who received the most electoral votes for pres, not vp

[GeorgiaModerate]

To further muddy the waters...

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[Fuzzy Bear]

Wow. What a self-righteous douche. What a smack in the face to the 52% of Washingtonians - a group disproportionately composed of women and minorities - who voted for Clinton in the primary.

Would you take the same view of a Republican elector who couldn't vote for Trump because of one of the many reasons given here regularly not to support Trump?

[Virginiá]

This is some real selfishness on his part. He can cast his regular vote based on how he feels about the candidates. The electoral college vote is supposed to validate the will of the people, not serve as his protest mechanism. If he can't do what is required of him, he should step down.

And he shouldn't be hoping more people do this, either. No electors should be casting protest votes. They need to respect the people's votes. If the state says to vote according to the PV of their state/CD, then that is what they should do. If they can't, step down. That applies to electors for Trump as well.

Just another reason we need to abolish the EC. We can't have people like this hijacking the EC to drive their own agenda.

[Senator-elect Spark]

Interesting

[RINO Tom]

This cycle has certainly shown how crappy the Electoral College continues to be.

Care to elaborate?

[An American Tail: Fubart Goes West]

To further muddy the waters...

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I'm hoping that they keep quiet for maximum chaos.

[Ljube]

Massive FF.

[Stranger in a strange land]

1) Electors shouldn't be actual people. If they have to be, they should be civil servants bound to the will of the people.
2) Penalties for faithless electors should be much stricter: I bet this guy wouldn't be playing this game if the penalty were a financial penalty that would actually hurt a Middle Class person (say a 50K fine rather than 1,000) and even a short prison sentence (just a few weeks would be enough)
3) The electoral college should ultimately be abolished altogether. If not, points 1 and 2 should be in effect.

[Fuzzy Bear]

This is some real selfishness on his part. He can cast his regular vote based on how he feels about the candidates. The electoral college vote is supposed to validate the will of the people, not serve as his protest mechanism. If he can't do what is required of him, he should step down.

And he shouldn't be hoping more people do this, either. No electors should be casting protest votes. They need to respect the people's votes. If the state says to vote according to the PV of their state/CD, then that is what they should do. If they can't, step down. That applies to electors for Trump as well.

Just another reason we need to abolish the EC. We can't have people like this hijacking the EC to drive their own agenda.

I'll give a bi-partisan thumbs up to this.

This may well be an issue on where there will be bi-partisan consensus after the election.  I will not be surprised if there are a record number of Faithless Electors this year.  I would not be shocked if this election goes to the Congress.  And I certainly wouldn't be surprised if the winner of this election has fewer popular votes than the loser.

I've also got to believe that folks are tired of Battleground States driving the Presidential agenda.  How much attention does PA, OH, and FL get?  How much attention does NY, CA, and TX get?  I've got to believe that there is some critical mass building on this issue that events may help along.

[Mr. Morden]

If this would decide the election to 269-268-1, would the GOP House just accept Clinton or would they go on and vote for Trump?

The House would probably deadlock, and whoever the Senate elects as VP would become president.

multiple ballots until somebody receives a majority. it must be one of the 3 who received the most electoral votes for pres, not vp

But someone might never receive a majority.  That's my point.  As we've gone over in threads like this before, there are likely enough anti-Trump Republicans in the House to block his election there, especially since the Republicans are likely to lose some more seats next week.  So if the House elects no one as president, then whoever the Senate elects as VP would then take over as president.