Democrats Were More Divided In the End [View all]

December 20, 2016 By Taegan Goddard

First Read: “In yesterday’s Electoral College tally, it turned out there were seven faithless electors — two Republicans voting for someone else other Donald Trump (John Kasich and Ron Paul), and five Democratic electors voting for someone else other than Hillary Clinton (three for Colin Powell, one for Bernie Sanders, and one for Faith Spotted Eagle). That there were more faithless Bernie Sanders-supporting Democratic electors bucking Hillary Clinton than faithless GOP electors spurning Trump sums up the 2016 contest pretty well. In the very end, despite all of the speculation to the contrary, Democrats were more divided than Republicans.”

“Of course, it’s worth wondering if these faithless Dem electors would have been as faithless if Clinton had won (though two of the Washington state electors had said they weren’t behind Clinton BEFORE the election). But as University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers observes, these seven faithless electors — there had been just nine combined since 1948 — are a troubling sign for future contests. ‘It could easily be enough to flip a future election,’ he tweets.'”

Rick Klein: “Three more electors tried to go rogue but were replaced before their votes were counted. Thus concludes one of the stranger trips through the strangest College that American democracy can conjure.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2016/12/20/democrats-divided-end/