Members of US Electoral College lobbying against Donald Trump: Report

US President-elect Donald Trump (Photo by AFP)

Two members of the US Electoral College are openly campaigning against President-elect Donald Trump, trying to persuade other presidential electors to keep him from entering the White House, according to a new report. 

State electors Bret Chiafolo of Washington and Michael Baca of Colorado have launched what they call “Moral Electors” movement, a last-ditch effort against the New York billionaire, Politico reported on Monday.

The pair were seeking to persuade at least 37 Republican presidential voters to join them, just enough to block Trump’s election and allow the US House of Representative to elect the country’s 45th president.

“This is a longshot. It’s a Hail Mary,” Chiafolo told Politico. “However, I do see situations where — when we’ve already had two or three [Republican] electors state publicly they didn’t want to vote for Trump. How many of them have real issues with Donald Trump in private?”

Interestingly, both Chiafolo, a Microsoft employee, and Baca, a Marine Corps veteran, said they were not looking to elect Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for the top job.

They both have planned to vote against the former secretary of state when the Electoral College convenes to elect the next president in mid-December.

The joint effort has been supported by Robert Satiacum Jr., another Washington state elector, who has openly expressed his opposition to Trump and Clinton before.

Although the electors have admitted that their attempt is not likely to succeed, the fact that members of the Electoral College were openly plotting against the president-elect raises questions about the controversial process of electing a new president in America.

On November 8, most American voters partaking in the election voted for Clinton but Trump came out victorious by winning key states and banking their electoral votes.

As of Tuesday, Trump had won 290 of the total 538 electoral votes, compared to Clinton’s 228. He was also likely to win all of Michigan’s 16 electoral votes.

The report came shortly after prominent Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders said America needed to “rethink” the Electoral College after electing “a man for president who didn’t get the most votes.”

Meanwhile, thousands of Clinton’s supporters have signed an online petition, calling on electoral voters to vote for Clinton instead of Trump.