Could the electoral college dump Trump? (BBC) {probably not}
Anthony Zurcher
North America reporter
12 December 2016
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The electoral college vote is a vestigial constitutional organ - a political appendix - that in practice has amounted to little more than a rubber stamp for the president-elect. The year 2016 seems determined to continue breaking rules and norms right up until its last day, however, so of course there's now a movement among some electors to challenge this status quo - and the Clinton team just gave a wink and a nod of approval to their efforts.
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Those electors are part of a manoeuvre they say was endorsed by founding father Alexander Hamilton, who wrote that a core purpose of the electoral college was to serve as a constitutional failsafe to prevent unqualified candidates or those under the influence of "foreign powers" from becoming president.
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"I don't think the Founding Fathers somehow 'intended' the electors to function in this situation as wise elders," he writes. "If they did, I think the electoral college would operate far differently. The electors never meet, they don't debate, they vote only once, and they disappear. To me, that's not a deliberative body; that's a protection for states that choose to disfranchise their people."
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Beneath all of this sound and fury is the reality that Mr Trump enters the White House with very tenuous claims to a presidential mandate. He trails Mrs Clinton in the popular vote by 2.8 million votes, his Electoral College margin is modest by historical standards, and he has some of the lowest approval ratings of any president-elect.
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Anything that knocks the president-elect off his stride and foments dissent in Republican ranks could be viewed by Democrats as a win, and at this point they'll likely take whatever they can get.
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more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38297353
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