Some Electoral College voters from Colorado have created a political not-for-profit organization that they hope will prevent Donald Trump from becoming president, according to The Hill.
The group’s goal is to persuade both Republican and Democratic voters in the Electoral College to support a different Republican candidate for President. If this doesn't work, they say they'll try to force an Electoral College deadlock, in which no candidate receives the majority of votes, the Denver Post reports. In the case of a deadlock, the House of Representatives decides the president.
According to the Post, this group is calling themselves the "Hamilton Electors," and would be able to fundraise and accept donations from individuals, corporations and labor unions. The "Hamilton" name comes from the thought that the U.S. founding fathers—including Alexander Hamilton—devised the Electoral College as a way to prevent demagogues (sound like anyone we know?) from taking office, and that the electors have a duty to vote the way they feel is right.
“I was opposed, actually, to raising money because I would prefer to just have this done organically,” Michael Baca, a Democratic elector, told the Post. “But we’ve had people throwing money at us through our website.”
Despite the initial success of the movement, and its support from several Democratic voters and one Republican voter, Baca told the Post that in the end, they're unlikely to stop Trump from taking office. Twenty-nine states have laws in place that forbid electors from voting opposed to how the state's population votes. But for many of those states, the punishment is small, such as a fine of $1,000.
“When it’s all said and done, we’ll probably end up sending that money back to the people,” Baca said told the Post. But hey, at least they're doing what they think is right.