So, the election is over, right? Technically it is NOT over.

The General Election is over and each state must certify the results and declare a victor for that state. If the popular vote were the deciding factor then that would be it, the candidate with the most votes nationally would win and Congress would decide in the event of a tie.

That is NOT our system, we use the Electoral College which is a compromise decided upon long ago to appease the folks who wanted Congress alone to appoint the President and Vice President and those who wanted to people to decide via the popular vote.

Your vote was for your state and that state will assign Electors to the Electoral College according to the rules of that state. This is why it does not matter that Clinton got more “popular” votes nationally; individual votes only count on a state level.

Each state and the District Of Colombia have a certain number of Electors; for the most part there is one for each representative for the state. Depending on the state the electors are assigned according to the popular vote in that state, two states have slightly different rules so it is possible for more than one of the candidates to get electoral votes from those two states, Main is an example. Each party has its own set of electors and when their candidate wins those are the people who become the electors for the state. Again, most states are Winner Take All states and two allow for splitting the electors.

On December 19th each state will have a meeting of their electors and those people will vote for the President and then the Vice President. While highly unusual it is possible for an Elector to vote for a candidate outside the one who appointed them based on the popular vote. While the electors are appointed by the candidate who won their state the Electors are NOT OBLIGATED to vote for that candidate, they may vote for whoever they like as long as that person meets other criteria. Not only are the electors not obligated to vote for the candidate who won the state for President they may vote for a Vice President other than that on the ticket of the person they selected for President. Electors who decide not to vote for their candidate are called “Faithless Electors.”

On January 6th of 2017 the Congress of the United States will meet in open session and count the votes. They count the votes for President and then Vice President. It is possible that the President from one camp will be elected while the Vice President from another will be elected.

If no Presidential candidate wins 270 or more electoral votes then the House of Representatives would elect the President by majority vote. They would choose from the three candidates who received the greatest number of electoral votes. The vote would be taken by state, with each state having one vote.

If no Vice Presidential candidate wins 270 or more electoral votes then the Senate would elect the Vice President by majority vote. They would choose from the two candidates who received the greatest number of electoral votes. The vote would be taken by state, with each Senator having one vote.

So technically Drumpf is NOT the President Elect at this time, he will not be until the Electoral College votes on December 19th. Likewise Pence is not the Vice President Elect until December 19th.

Having stated all of this it is important to note that the likelihood is the Electors will vote for the person who appointed them as an Elector. Those are usually highly trusted individuals with influence in the state and or who have worked on the campaign etc. In the history of the Electoral College only 157 Electors were Faithless and of those 70 were so because their candidate died. Most of the time those Faithless Electors stood alone but it has happened where more than one such Elector changed their vote as a group in the same election.

I only offer this as a possibility not a probability. This election has been one where many things happened outside the norm so the possibility may well happen. You may research the names of the Electors in your state and write to them and plea your case for them to vote as a “Faithless” Elector.