How Butt-Hurt Clinton Supporters Are Challenging Democracy

We Are Change

The 2016 election has turned over 3 million Clinton supporters into “sore losers” who are now challenging the democratic process with a petition on Change.org urging the Electoral College to “Make Hillary Clinton President On December 19.”

Their aim is to plead with members of the US Electoral College to change their vote. They argue that “Hillary won the popular vote. The only reason Trump ‘won’ is because of the Electoral College.”

However, that’s not how democracy works. In the 2000 election when Al Gore won the popular vote, but lost the Electoral College vote to Republican George W. Bush, the results did not change, and Gore was not elected President. It didn’t work that way then, and it won’t work this way now.

Donald Trump won the election fair and square. 290 electoral votes for Trump, 228 for Clinton. While the petition cites that Clinton won the popular votes, it is important to note that she only won it by about 0.1 percent. With 46.9% of Americans not even voting.

But this doesn’t stop passionate Clinton supporters from trying to override the democratic system, as is evident from the fact that this petition has over 3.5 million, from the goal of 4.5 million, signatures.

The Electoral College is part of the Constitution and it is composed of 538 members. Each state, and the District of Columbia, has one member for every senator or House lawmaker. The members don’t formally cast their votes until December 19, and because of this, Clinton supporters are making a last ditch attempt to try and steal the presidency from Trump. By trying to get electorates to vote against the nominee who gained the most votes in their state.

The creator of this petition, Elijah Berg, says that not all states require their electorate to vote for the Presidential candidate who won the most votes in that state. Regarding the states that do have this requirement, they argue that “Even in states where that is not allowed, their vote would still be counted, they would simply pay a small fine – which we can be sure Clinton supporters will be glad to pay!”

I’m not sure what this person’s idea of a “small fine” is, but the fine which an electorate would have to pay if they vote against their state regulations is between $500-$3000.

The creator also states that “The Electoral College can actually give the White House to either candidate. So why not use this most undemocratic of our institutions to ensure a democratic result?” But by blatantly stating that undemocratic means should be used to ensure a “democratic result” you bypass and go against the very foundations of a fair democracy.

This petition is highly unlikely to change the results of this presidential election. Trump won by a clear lead in electoral votes, and 37 electorates would have to vote against Trump to make him lose the majority, which just isn’t going to happen. And perhaps most importantly, Hillary Clinton has conceded the election and has acknowledged Donald Trump as the winner. So rest assure, the wicked witch of the west will almost certainly not be put in power.

 

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from We Are Change http://wearechange.org/butt-hurt-clinton-supporters-challenging-democracy/