Faithless electors in the 2016 United States presidential election

The electors advocated for voting their conscience to prevent the election of someone they viewed as unfit for the presidency as prescribed by Alexander Hamilton in No.

Electors were subjected to public pressure, including threats of death if they remained faithful to voting for Trump.

In the event that no one receives a majority of the Electoral College vote, the selection of the president is made by the House of Representatives under certain constitutional guidelines.

[22] Suprun indicated that he had also been in confidential contact with several Republican electors who planned to vote faithlessly, stating that they would be "discussing names specifically and see who meets the [fitness for president] test that we could all get behind.

"[23] By December 5, 2016, two Republican electoral college members who publicly stated their intention to not vote for Trump had resigned.

[24][25] Georgia Republican elector Baoky Vu resigned in August in the face of reaction to his public statement that he would not vote for Trump.

[34] On December 14, multiple Republican members of the electoral college stated under condition of anonymity that they were being coerced with "threats of political reprisal," adding "that the Donald Trump campaign is putting pressure on Republican electors to vote for him based on ... future political outcomes based on whether they vote for Donald Trump or not.

The video featured numerous public figures,[38] including Debra Messing, Martin Sheen, and Bob Odenkirk, urging Republican electors to prevent a Trump presidency, expressing several times the message: "I'm not asking you to vote for Hillary Clinton".

"[37] Daniel Brezenoff's anti-Trump Change.org petition became the largest in that organization's history with nearly five million signatures, and on December 14, full-page ads funded by Brezenoff's related GoFundMe campaign ran in The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Austin American-Statesman, The Salt Lake Tribune, and the Tampa Bay Times.

[39] On December 11, Democratic US Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut wrote on Twitter that Trump is "completely unhinged" and "the Electoral College must do what it was designed for.

[41] On December 6, 2016, the Hamilton Electors' website was established to advocate the election of an alternative Republican as the next president of the United States.

Lessig said the counsel and support (namely Laurence Tribe, who has argued before the Supreme Court 36 times)[42] would be provided anonymously.

[46] However, in Baca v. Hickenlooper a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit declared in a footnote that any attempt to remove electors "after voting has begun" would be "unlikely in light of the text of the Twelfth Amendment.

II, § 1, to vote as he may choose [emphasis added] in the electoral college, it would not follow that the requirement of a pledge in the primary is unconstitutional.In his dissent, Justice Robert H. Jackson, joined by Justice William O. Douglas, wrote: No one faithful to our history can deny that the plan originally contemplated what is implicit in its text – that electors would be free agents, to exercise an independent and nonpartisan judgment as to the men best qualified for the Nation's highest offices.The four faithless electors from Washington were each fined $1,000 for breaking their pledge.

The namesake of the Hamilton Electors, Alexander Hamilton
The electors themselves are named on the presidential ballots of only eight states. [ 13 ]
In the indicated states, laws exist which either impose a fine or imprisonment on an elector who fails to vote according to the state-specified rules, force the elector to vote for the candidate they pledged to vote for, or disqualify the elector and provide a replacement. [ 14 ]
Lawrence Lessig