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Donald Trump hits 270 votes in Electoral College, wins presidency

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press
Published: December 19, 2016, 2:25pm
3 Photos
Brock Ervin holds a sign outside the Indiana House chamber at the Statehouse before the eleven representatives of the Electoral College gathered to formally cast their votes for President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence on  Monday in Indianapolis.
Brock Ervin holds a sign outside the Indiana House chamber at the Statehouse before the eleven representatives of the Electoral College gathered to formally cast their votes for President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Monday in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings) Photo Gallery

WASHINGTON — There were many protesters but few faithless electors as Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote Monday — ensuring he will become America’s 45th president.

An effort by anti-Trump forces to persuade Republican electors to abandon the president-elect came to practically nothing and the process unfolded largely according to its traditions. Trump’s polarizing victory Nov. 8 and the fact Democrat Hillary Clinton had won the national popular vote had stirred an intense lobbying effort, but to no avail.

“We did it!” Trump tweeted Monday evening. “Thank you to all of my great supporters, we just officially won the election (despite all of the distorted and inaccurate media).”

He later issued a statement saying: “With this historic step we can look forward to the bright future ahead. I will work hard to unite our country and be the President of all Americans.”

Even one of Trump’s fiercest Republican rivals, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, said it was time to get behind the president-elect.

“We want unity, we want love,” Kasich said as Ohio’s electors voted to back Trump at a Statehouse ceremony. Kasich refused to endorse or even vote for Trump in the election.

With all states voting, Trump finished with 304 votes and Clinton had 227. It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency. Texas put Trump over the top, despite two Republican electors casting protest votes.

Befitting an election filled with acrimony, thousands of protesters converged on state capitols across the country Monday, urging Republican electors to abandon their party’s winning candidate.

More than 200 demonstrators braved freezing temperatures at Pennsylvania’s capitol, chanting, “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA!” and “No treason, no Trump!”

In Madison, Wis., protesters shouted, cried and sang “Silent Night.” In Augusta, Maine, they banged on drums and held signs that read, “Don’t let Putin Pick Our President,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Despite the noise outside state capitols, inside the voting went pretty much as planned.

With all Republican states reporting, Trump lost only the two electors in Texas. One voted for Kasich, the Ohio governor; the other voted for former Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Clinton lost an elector in Hawaii to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Clinton beat Sanders in the Democratic primaries. She also lost four electors in Washington state.

Several Democratic electors in other states tried to vote for protest candidates but they either changed their votes to Clinton or were replaced.

The Electoral College has 538 members, with the number allocated to each state based on how many representatives it has in the House plus one for each senator. The District of Columbia gets three, despite the fact that the home to Congress has no vote in Congress.

Republican electors were deluged with emails, phone calls and letters urging them not to support Trump. Many of the emails are part of coordinated campaigns.

There is no constitutional provision or federal law that requires electors to vote for the candidate who won their state — though some states require their electors to vote for the winning candidate.

Those laws, however, are rarely tested. More than 99 percent of electors through U.S. history have voted for the candidate who won their state. Of those who refused, none has ever been prosecuted, according to the National Archives.

Some Democrats have argued that the Electoral College is undemocratic because it gives more weight to less populated states. That is how Clinton, who got more than 2.8 million more votes nationwide, lost the election to Trump.

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