Electoral College Vote: Trump Elected President With Texas Vote, 7 Electors Defect (UPDATES)

The electoral college voted Monday and with the increased scrutiny on the college in 2016, citizens watched closely to see if there would be a so-called revolt amongst the electors to keep Donald Trump from securing the presidency. Save for seven electors who successfully defected (more defected against Clinton than Trump), voting went smoothly and as expected with Trump officially elected the 45th president of the United States when the electors in Texas cast their vote, despite two of them changing their vote.

The six electors who defected came from Washington and Texas. In Washington, four of the state's 12 electors cast their vote for someone other than Hillary Clinton. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell bagged three of those votes and a fourth went to "Faith Bald Eagle." The Texas vote started with some drama, with four of the electors having to be replaced because they were not present, but the reason for their absence was nothing particularly dramatic. Once they were replaced, 36 of the state's votes went to Trump, one to libertarian Ron Paul and another to Ohio Gov. John Kasich. And just as voting was winding down, an elector in Hawaii changed his vote to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Mike Memoli, a journalist at the LA Times' D.C. Bureau, reported that the elector's vote would stand.

Electors in at least three other states who tried to defect did not succeed. An elector in Maine who cast his vote for Sanders changed his vote back to Clinton. In Colorado, a faithless elector who voted for Kasich was rejected. Similarly, in Minnesota, a faithless elector who voted for Sanders was replaced.

Protesters gathered across the country at various state capitols in an effort to persuade electors to stop Trump from winning the presidency, but they came to little use, except for making a statement. (Some photos and videos from the protests can be seen at the bottom of this post.)

With the Russian interference in the election, concerns about Trump's judgement and qualifications to be president and Clinton's massive 2.8 million popular vote lead, some electors had come under pressure to switch their vote. But despite these efforts to persuade electors, the electors had not said they would be voting differently than what was expected of them. One Texas elector, Chris Suprun, wrote an editorial in the New York Times saying he would not be voting for Trump. The Clinton campaign has put the blame on the Russians and FBI director James Comey, largely not taking any responsibility for the defeat.

Electors are technically not bound by federal law to vote according to the popular vote in their states. However, some states have separate laws and other electors are bound by informal pledges to their parties. The so-called faithless electors may be charged a fine or even prosecuted. According to the final tally by The Associated Press, Trump won 304 votes, Clinton 227, three for Colin Powell, one for Ron Paul, one for John Kasich and one for Faith Bald Eagle.

Despite there being no large scale revolt, the seven defectors are notable. As The New York Times notes, this is the most number of electors who have ever voted for someone other than their party's nominee.

Trump sent out a tweet thanking his supporters.

Below is a live blog of interesting happenings during the electoral college vote:

Update: Texas electors have cast their vote, officially electing Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States. After some drama, with four electors missing and having to be replaces in the lone star state, 36 of the state's 38 electors voted for Trump. One of the votes went to Ron Paul and another to John Kasich.

For more about the electoral college vote in Texas, Patch's Tony Cantu has the report out of Austin.

Update: More faithless electors are switching their votes but not against President-elect Donald Trump, as protesters would have hoped.

In Washington, four faithless electors went against the popular vote with three voting for Colin Powell and one for "Faith Spotted Eagle."

In Colorado, one faithless elector voted for John Kasich. Brandon Rittiman, a political journalist in Colorado, reported that the elector, Michael Baca, will be referred to the Colorado Attorney General for possible prosecution.

Any Democratic electors choosing to switch their votes from Hillary Clinton are not just engaging in tomfoolery. As the Guardian explains, the idea behind Democratic electors switching their votes is that by doing so they might be able to convince their Republican counterparts to compromise on an alternate candidate to stop a Trump presidency.

And in Texas, where Republican elector Chris Suprun declared he will not vote Trump, there was some drama. Four electors did not show up for roll call and had to be replaced. Once the state votes, Trump will have officially been elected the 45th president of the United States.

According to the latest tally from The Associated Press, Trump has 256 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency while Hillary Clinton is at 139.

Update: So far the voting process is going as expected with no defectors save for one elector in Maine, who cast his vote for Bernie Sanders, and another in Minnesota. Despite protests, electors in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin that helped put President-elect Donald Trump over the edge all voted as expected.

The "faithless elector" from Maine, David Bright, had this to say about why he chose Sanders.

Bright has since changed his vote back to Hillary Clinton, the Portland Press Herald reports.

The faithless elector from Minnesota, Muhammad Abdurrahman, was replaced. Associated Press journalist Kyle Potter reports Abdurrahman was a Sanders delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

Former President Bill Clinton, an elector from New York, had this to say about his vote:

According to the latest tally from The Associated Press, Trump has 134 of the 270 electoral votes required to formally win the presidency. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has 43 electoral votes.

Electors in all 50 states and the District of Columbia gather Monday to officially seal the 2016 presidential election. In any other election year, this process would have gone along smoothly, but the Electoral College has come under the spotlight this year, with electors facing pressure to switch their votes from President-elect Donald Trump, who won 306 of the 538 electoral votes, safely above the margin of 270 needed to clinch the election.

The intelligence community in the United States is all but in agreement that Russia's intent behind interfering in the 2016 election was not just to diminish faith in the election process but to help Trump win the presidency. Since the information came to light, several electors, mostly Democrats, demanded intelligence briefings before they cast their votes, a move that was supported by John Podesta, who served as chairman for Hillary for America. That request was denied. "Saturday Night Live" even aired a skit titled "Hillary Actually," where Clinton is seen pleading with an elector to switch her vote.

And to further the ire of those calling on the electoral college to switch their votes, not just to Hillary Clinton but essentially to anyone else, is the fact that Clinton won the popular vote by a margin of more than 2.8 million votes.

As electors meet Monday at their respective state capitols, electoral votes in several states have already been cast. In a last-ditch effort to try to make electors switch their votes, protesters have gathered across the country at state capitols to make their case for why Trump should not be elected president.

Technically, electors are not bound to vote according to popular vote results in the state they represent. As the New York Times explains, some state laws bind electors to vote according to the popular vote tally, while others are bound by informal pledges to a party. Some state laws allow for so-called "faithless electors" to be fined or even disqualified and replaced.

Below are some scenes from the protests taking place, spread out over the country:

Patch will update this report.

Image Credit: Rick Uldricks/Patch