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thisfinecrewIn our Ideas and Suggestions post, hannah asked
lynnenne has already posted two links:
However, the people behind the FaithlessNow petition (a Republican-originated initiative to get the electors to choose another Republican in place of Trump) have urged people not to contact electors directly. They point out that electors are mostly “ordinary citizens": party stalwarts rewarded for their service. While some are locally elected officials, they generally don’t have the office staff of a Senator or Congressman, and will have to handle calls and deal with emails personally. Deluging them with protests may be counter-productive.
Also, as this Vox article points out, "The Trump state electors are Republican Party stalwarts or activists chosen during state party deliberations. [...] Almost always, the parties do a good enough job of vetting their respective electoral slates to ensure that they will indeed loyally back their party’s presidential nominee. The Republican Party clearly ended up falling behind Trump, and any Republican elector who abandons him would be defying the will of not only their state’s voters but also the party generally."
Some other options to consider, apart from contacting electors directly, are:
hannah askedI've seen it suggested to pressure electoral college members to change their vote this year, but nothing clear on who to contact or what to say - that is, if I'm in New York, whether I should phone the Wyoming representative or not. Might you post something about that in the next couple of weeks?
lynnenne has already posted two links:If you live in a red state, write to your electoral college representative and insist that they do not cast their ballots for Trump, on the grounds that he represents a clear and present danger to American democracy. Here's an article that explains it.
Ask the Electors: Write to the electors in red states and ask them to cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton (or even another candidate) to prevent Trump from reaching 270.
However, the people behind the FaithlessNow petition (a Republican-originated initiative to get the electors to choose another Republican in place of Trump) have urged people not to contact electors directly. They point out that electors are mostly “ordinary citizens": party stalwarts rewarded for their service. While some are locally elected officials, they generally don’t have the office staff of a Senator or Congressman, and will have to handle calls and deal with emails personally. Deluging them with protests may be counter-productive.
Also, as this Vox article points out, "The Trump state electors are Republican Party stalwarts or activists chosen during state party deliberations. [...] Almost always, the parties do a good enough job of vetting their respective electoral slates to ensure that they will indeed loyally back their party’s presidential nominee. The Republican Party clearly ended up falling behind Trump, and any Republican elector who abandons him would be defying the will of not only their state’s voters but also the party generally."
Some other options to consider, apart from contacting electors directly, are:
- Contact Democratic Senators, Congressmen and State Senators in Trump states, who probably know the (Republican) electors personally, to ask them to persuade the electors they know to change their votes -- to a candidate other than Trump, if not Clinton.
- Contact your local Senate, Congress and State Senate representatives to press for adoption of the National Popular Vote proposal:
When a state passes legislation to join the National Popular Vote Compact, it pledges that all of that state's electoral votes will be given to whichever presidential candidate wins the popular vote nationwide. (source: NCSL)
It won’t affect the outcome of this election, but it would mean that if enough states adopt it, future elections will be won by candidate with the most votes nationally - in 2016, that was Clinton. - If you are in a Clinton state, you could contact your local electors or local elected officials and ask them to make statements encouraging electors in Trump states to change their votes.
