All 16 Michigan Electors Cast Ballots for Donald J. Trump for President

(Updated.) All 16 of Michigan’s electors cast their votes for president and vice president for Donald Trump and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, the Associated Press reported. The unanimous vote came after several of the Republican electors said they had been lobbied to change their votes as part of a nationwide campaign to deny the president-elect a victory in the Electoral College.

The vote in Michigan took place p.m. in the Senate chambers at the Capitol building in Lansing.

About 150 protesters marched in 7 degree weather in a long-shot attempt to try to sway electors, who have have been inundated with hundreds of pieces of mail and emails from groups that believe the electors have a moral responsibility to deny Trump the presidency. Similar protests are taking place around the country as electors meet.

Trump is the first president-elect in history to face such a revolt, and the number of “faithless electors” who aren’t expected to vote for him could be the greatest in history.

“These unprecedented protests are making clear that Donald Trump lost the popular vote and has no mandate,” Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which is organizing some of the protests, said in a statement. “Regardless of how the Electoral College votes, these protests remind the political world that Trump does not represent the will of the people — and will embolden Democrats to fight Trump as he helps big international corporations at the expense of American workers.”

In Michigan, protesters were gathering at the Capitol in advance of the vote.

Wyckham Seelig, a 73-year-old elector from Lodi Township near Ann Arbor, told The Detroit News he has been receiving “cardboard trays full of letters asking me not to vote for the person the people of the state of Michigan chose.”

But in Michigan, electors are bound to Trump and face a fine if they don't vote for him. However, filmmaker Michael Moore tweeted that if electors vote their conscience and reject him, he will pay their fines.

Earlier, Moore tweeted:

It is unclear if any electors plan to vote for a candidate other than Trump.

“This is a crucial moment in our history because technically he hasn’t won the presidency,” Brian Fairbrother, 27, a deputy clerk in Shelby Township told the Detroit Free Press. “It’s truly an honor to be a part of history. It’s the highlight of my life so far.”

Trump narrowly won Michigan, by a margin of 10,704 votes, or 0.2 percent, the closest margin in any of the key battleground states that swung the election to the political maverick’s favor. Michigan hasn't voted for a Republican for president since 1988.

More than 4.8 million people have signed a petition urging electors to vote for Clinton, who won the popular vote by more than 2.8 million votes but fell short of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the Electoral College. Trump received 306 electoral college votes from 30 states, compared to 232 votes in 20 states for Clinton.

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Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons