Fatu Castillo
Staff Writer
If you were hoping for Presidential Election to end after Election Day, then you’re surely use to disappointment, because this election just can’t seem to end. For weeks after the results were declared, both violent and peaceful protesters had been ubiquitous in the streets of nearly every major city to speak out against the Trump victory.
Defiant citizens flooded the streets, brandishing signs with the words Not My President and Dump Trump, demanding that their voices be heard.
But even now, as these protesters slowly stopped flooding the streets, they haven’t let their small rebellion die out. One of their main complaints is that Clinton won the popular vote, but not the election itself, due to the format of the electoral college. As a result, over four million citizens have signed Electoral College: Make Hillary Clinton President on December 19th, a trending petition of Change.org.
The petition, in essence, would have the Electoral College cast their ballots on December 19th in accordance to the popular vote and clinch a Clinton victory.
Daniel Brezenoff, the creator of the petition, urged to Electoral College to vote with their consciences. In the his letter addressed to them Brezenoff points to the original purpose of the Electoral College, to fairly represent the will of citizens, and Trump’s lack of qualifications for the Presidency.
In the write-up for the petition, Brezenoff states that, “Never in our Republic’s 240 years has our President had no previous experience in an office of public trust, be it elected or appointed, civilian or military.”
But as vigorous as Brezenoff argument may be, does his petition hold any merit?
Junior Ajanean Mills, who supports the petition, states, “I think that it’s not fair that if a candidate doesn’t win over specific states then they’ll probably lose the election just because those states have more electoral college votes than other states.”
By contrast, Freshman David Hammond is skeptical if the petition, even with over four million signatures, has the power to change the results.
“I don’t know if that petition alone has the power to overturn the Electoral College because it’s based on science and there’s a reason to have it,” Hammond explained, “but I think that since the people voted one way over the Electoral College should definitively be taken into consideration”.
History Teacher Jason Todd offered his take on the situation as well. “I think there’s a lot of difficulties trying to change it now for this election because the electoral college has been in place and it’s the system we’ve used for over 200 years.”
Todd points out a possible legal issue with the petition, “It’s the system that the candidates campaigned under, I think that if you were to override the Electoral College in this election then it would look like you’re changing the rules because you don’t like the outcome.”
With the Elector vote day of December 19th looming closer and closer, it’s a toss up of whether the petition will reach its goal of six million signatures. Even if it fails to reach its goal, the election still has no end in sight as Green Party candidate Jill Stein had reignited the flame by calling for a recount in three key swing states.
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