When Daniel Brezenoff started a petition on Change.org last month, imploring the Electoral College to prevent a disaster, my guess is he never thought it would reach this far. His petition has now received more signatures than any petition in the popular website’s history.
4.7 Million Votes And Counting
As of this writing, Brezenoff’s petition stands at 4,703,032 signatures. And yes, one of those is that of yours truly.
The impetus behind the petition is, of course, the fact that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. Currently, her vote tally comes in at just over 2.5 million more votes than projected President-elect Donald Trump.
Recounts are currently underway in Wisconsin and will likely soon begin in Michigan and Pennsylvania, despite Trump’s efforts to stop them.
The Power Of The Electoral College
Though considered a formality, the Electoral College actually DOES have the power to keep Donald Trump from becoming president, though the Electoral College has never changed the outcome of any election in history. Each state’s electors will meet in their respective state capitals on December 19 to cast their ballots for president.
Alexander Hamilton wrote, in Federalist No. 68:
“The process of election affords a moral certainty, that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.”
Granted, the Federalist Papers have no legal standing, but they do offer a glimpse into the minds of the men who wrote the Constitution, as well as those with a great deal of influence on its creation (such as Hamilton).
In other words, the Electoral College exists to prevent the election of a man like Donald Trump.
Interestingly, the founders were much more concerned that the people would give the popular vote to someone unqualified and that the electors would have to save them from an unqualified president.
However, we now find ourselves in a position where the people chose the qualified candidate by popular vote, but the body that is supposed to prevent an unqualified person from taking office is, almost assuredly, going to do just that.
Signing the petition to urge them to do otherwise, though, can’t hurt.
4,703,753 now, by the way. Go add your name here.
Featured Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr/CC BY 2.0
