Moxie

By Lauren Linhard- moxie.lauren@gmail.com

Donald Trump didn’t win the presidential election because the American people choose him – he lost by 2.36 million votes. He won because he got the right votes in the right states to procure the most votes from the electoral college on Dec. 19, the day the President is formally chosen.

That means there is still time, and some are making a last-ditch effort to prevent Trump from taking the oath of office.

Earlier this week, Texas Republican presidential elector Christopher Suprun announced he will not vote for Trump because he believes the president-elect is not qualified for the job. Electors are meant to determine if a candidate is qualified, independent from foreign influence and not engaged in demogogy.

“Mr. Trump shows us again and again that he does not meet these standards,” Suprun said. “Given his own public statements, it isn’t clear how the Electoral College can ignore these issues, and so it should reject him.”

Though Suprun is not planning to vote for Hillary Clinton, he is urging his 537 fellow electors to back a male or female Republican alternative – one that can bring the nation together rather than segmenting it through fear.

Democratic members of the electoral college have also engaged in a “Hail Mary” effort to persuade Republican members to denounce Trump. P. Bret Chiafalo, a Washington State elector who has declared his opposition to Hillary Clinton, and Micheal Baca of Colorado are leading the movement, encouraging members to write in Mitt Romney or John Kasich rather than cross party lines.

These members of the electoral college are not alone in this fight to stop Trump from reaching the oval office. More than 4.6 million people have signed a petition urging the electoral college to follow the popular vote regardless of respective state votes.

The petition, which is the largest in change.org history, argues that Trump is unfit to serve, citing his lack of experience in an office of public trust as well as his behavior encouraging violence at campaign events and admitting to sexual assaults.

However, it would require 36 Republican electors, in addition to Suprun, to vote rogue and push Trump below the 270-vote marker needed to become president. Although incredibly unlikely, if this were to happen, it would be the first in American history.

Stay tuned: While Trump is most likely going to become the next President of the United States, there are still ways you can take action.