The “Hamilton Electors” Exposed
By Daniel Gever
December 20, 2016
America is now coming to grips with the reality that we, some of us, a minority of us, just 62,979,636 of us, elected the wrong presidential candidate. The results of the November 8, 2016 general election, which awarded Donald Trump 306 electors and Secretary Clinton 232 electors, was confirmed by the Electoral College on December 19, 2016. Despite the hopes of Progressives, Liberals, Democrats, disaffected Republicans, and other well intentioned Americans, who desperately wanted to believe that the “Hamilton Electors” would be able to stop the new President Elect, it was never possible. The final Electoral College vote will record that Trump received 304 electoral votes, Clinton 227, with seven “Faithless Electors” going to others. The question is, what did we learn from these faithless, “Hamilton Electors”?
HISTORY
First, a bit of history. Prior to December 19, 2016, there had been 157 so called “Faithless Electors” in the history of the United States, with just nine Faithless Electors since 1948. History and the law of the United States in 48 states plus the District of Columbia, allowing the nominee of the political party winning the popular vote in those states to appoint all of the electors for that state, assured the result in the Electoral College. The states of Maine and Nebraska assign electors to the party winning the popular vote in the congressional districts.
First, a bit of history. Prior to December 19, 2016, there had been 157 so called “Faithless Electors” in the history of the United States, with just nine Faithless Electors since 1948. History and the law of the United States in 48 states plus the District of Columbia, allowing the nominee of the political party winning the popular vote in those states to appoint all of the electors for that state, assured the result in the Electoral College. The states of Maine and Nebraska assign electors to the party winning the popular vote in the congressional districts.
The reason for the drop in Faithless Electors can be traced to a 1952 Supreme Court case, Ray vs Blair, which held that:
“It is not violative of the Federal Constitution for the party to require the candidates for the office of Presidential Elector to take a pledge to support the nominees of the party's National Convention for President and Vice-President or for the party's officers to refuse to certify as a candidate for Presidential Elector a person otherwise qualified who refuses to take such a pledge.”
There is also the fact that 30 states plus the District of Columbia can enforce upon the party electors requirements to vote for the popular vote winner through criminal sanctions and pledges.
The “Hamilton Electors” was an organization that was coming for our money on the internet, FaceBook, and on Twitter, never interested in seeing Secretary Clinton elected President of the United States. They were:
“Calling upon other Electors from both red and blue states to unite behind a Responsible Republican candidate for the good of the nation.”
Bret Chiafalo from the state of Washington and Michael Baca from Colorado, co-founded the “Hamilton Electors”. Both are Bernie Sanders supporters and both were Democratic Party electors. The intentions of the “Hamilton Electors” not to cast their votes for Hillary Clinton were telegraphed prior to the November 8, 2016 general election.
Mr. Chiafalo on November 4, 2016 when asked if he would withhold his vote for Clinton, even in a close election, told the Seattle Times that:
“I have no specific plans, but I have not ruled out that possibility,”
It is clear that Mr. Chiafalo and Mr. Baca were considering voting against Secretary Clinton before the general election. Politico reported on November 14, 2016, that the two men:
“Insist they’re not seeking the election of Clinton — or even a Democrat. Both, in fact, had already been considering voting against her when the Electoral College meets.”
It is also clear that Chiafalo and Baca were planning this revolt against Hillary Clinton, who prior to the November 8, 2016, was widely expected to win, with other Democratic electors who also were Bernie Sanders supporters. Washington State Democratic elector, Robert Satiacum, was also interviewed by the Seattle Times on November 4, 2016. Here is what he said when asked if he would cast his vote for Clinton;
“No, no, no on Hillary. Absolutely not. No way.”
Satiacum, a member of the Pullayup Native American Tribe, also said:
“I hope it comes down to a swing vote and it’s me. Good. She ain’t getting it. Maybe it’ll wake this country up.”
Chiafalo, also known as P. Bret Chiafalo, filed in Washington State Federal Court for an injunction stopping fines levied for failing to vote HRC. The motion was denied. 19 year old Levi Guerra, another Sanders supporter and Washington State Democratic elector, joined Chiafalo in seeking that injunction.
We now know that when the Electoral College votes came in on December 19, 2016, instead of getting 306 electoral votes, Mr. Trump got 304. Two Texas electors went rogue with one voting for Ohio Governor, John Kasich and one elector voting for former Texas Congressman, Ron Paul. A third Texas elector, Art Sisneros, resigned because of a refusal to vote for Mr. Trump, but was replaced by an elector who did vote for Trump.
Senator Clinton received 227 of the 232 electoral votes that had been pledged to the Democratic candidate as a result of the general election. Four Democratic electors tried but failed to get votes cast for someone other than Secretary Clinton. Five electors in states won by Clinton did succeed in casting votes for another candidate.
In Colorado, Michael Baca, one of the Bernie supporters leading the “Hamilton Electors”, as expected, tried to cast his vote for Governor Kasich. Mr. Baca was replaced, also as expected, by an elector who cast a Clinton vote.
A Maine Democratic elector, David Bright, had announced in advance that he would be voting for Senator Bernie Sanders. Mr. Bright followed through on his plan but it was ruled out of order so he changed his vote to Clinton.
A Minnesota Democratic elector and former Bernie Sanders delegate to the Democratic National Convention, Muhammad Abdurrahman, tried voting for a Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard ticket. Those votes were declared invalid and Mr. Abdurrahman was replaced by an elector who did vote for the Clinton/Kaine ticket.
There were also four Washington State electors who failed to honor the will of the people of Washington, and voted for someone else. Joining Brett Chiafalo in casting votes for former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, were Sanders supporter, Levi Guerra, and Esther Johns, an elector from Seattle, Washington. It should be noted that Clinton won Washington with 52.6% of the vote. The never Hillary, Bernie Sanders supporter, Robert Sactium, cast his vote for Puyallup Tribal Elder, and Standing Rock protester, Faith Spotted Eagle.
Finally there is the state of Hawaii where Secretary Clinton won with 62.2% of the vote. Three of the state’s electors did cast their votes for Clinton. One elector, Janice Bond, cast her vote for a Bernie Sanders/Elizabeth Warren ticket.
The answer to the question what did we learn from these faithless, “Hamilton Electors”, might be this. The “Hamilton Electors” believed, as most of America did, that Hillary Clinton was going to win the 2016 presidential election. As “never Hillary”, Bernie Sanders supporters, they had themselves pre-positioned as Democratic Party electors dedicated to use Republican Hillary hatred to convince Republican electors to violate their legal duty and join them in casting their electoral votes for Bernie Sanders, thereby electing Bernie Sanders the 45th President of the United States or throwing the election to the US House of Representatives which would prevent Clinton from taking the oval office by voting for the Republican candidate.
We, the majority of the American people who voted for Secretary Clinton over the new President Elect, need to step forward and use our time, money, and efforts wisely in opposing the incoming administration, and organizing for every election to come. We must also take care not to buy what snake oil salespeople are selling. The Hamilton Electors, the petitions to the electors, the letters to the electors, Jill Stein and the solicitations to fund lawsuits and petitions for recounts that for the most part never happened and did not change the results in a single state, was the snake oil being sold. The goals of those salespeople were not in our interests. To quote George W. Bush, the man who will now go down in history as the second worst President in most of our lifetimes:
“Fool me once, shame on ... shame on you. Fool me... You can't get fooled again!” -George W. Bush
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