There is currently a petition making the rounds asking that electors choose Hillary rather than Trump when they convene. So far, there is somewhere north of 3 million signatures on the petition. Of course, that is well shy of the more than 120 million people who chose either Hillary or Trump in the election; 3 million are requesting that the voice of 60 million be overturned? I don't think so.
Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump ran campaigns with a strategy of collecting 270 electoral votes. If the idea had been to get more popular votes, the campaigns would have been run differently. The requirements of victory cannot be changed after the race has already been run. Though there have been 6 faithless electors in the last 50 years, no election since 1912 has had more than 1. Even in 1912, there were only 8 faithless electors. For Hillary to win via the Electoral College, she would need 38 electors to switch their votes.
This is the second time in recent history that the winner garnered fewer popular votes. It is not surprising that the urban party has an easier time getting voters to the polls than does the rural party. Also, how many illegal immigrants took President Obama's advice to go vote?
In 2008, Barack Obama received 69.5 million votes. In 2012, he dropped to 65.9 million, making him the first president since FDR in 1944 to garner fewer votes for re-election than for election. Hillary has 60.8 million. Democrats have been bleeding votes through Obama's tenure but have not done any course correction to address that. By contrast, McCain received 59.9 million votes, Romney had 60.9 million, and Trump has 60.3 million. Republican vote totals are flat. Hillary lost this campaign more than Trump won it.
If signing the petition helps dull the pain of loss, it can be considered therapeutic. If the signers expect to change the results of the election, they have only set themselves for another disappointment.
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