RantCrush Top 5: December 20, 2016

The Electoral College actually cast its votes yesterday, and Donald Trump is officially going to be our next president. But that doesn’t mean that everything was calm and peaceful–there were seven defections yesterday afternoon from electors. And while they may not have made much of a difference in the overall scheme of things, that number is record-breaking and says a lot about the sheer madness that was the 2016 election.

There were seven “faithless” electors who cast their votes yesterday. It’s the first time since 1832 that more than one elector voted for a candidate they weren’t pledged to. And the previous record–six–was set over 200 years ago, during James Madison’s election.

In Washington, three electors pledged to Clinton voted for Colin Powell, and one voted for Faith Spotted Eagle, a Native American activist who has been a big part of the protests at the Dakota Access Pipeline. In Texas, one elector pledged to Trump voted for John Kasich and one voted for Ron Paul. Three more Democrats, from Maine, Minnesota, and Colorado, also tried to vote differently than they were supposed to, but were not allowed to defect by state officials.

And the whole debacle still has a lot of people calling for changes to the electoral college system:

Clinton received almost 3 million more votes, but Trump will be the next president. It’s clear the electoral college needs to be changed.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) December 20, 2016

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.