There have been four cases I can think of where the electoral college and the popular vote mismatched (at least post-Civil War). The election of Rutherford B Hayes in 1872, which was decided by a special electoral commission (basically a deal with the Democrats to end Reconstruction). Then there was 1888 when Benjamin Harrison won. (Nobody remembers much of wither Hayes or Harrison, for what it’s worth).

Then there was 2000, and 2016.

The thing is, I can’t see much upside for progressive people if a letter-writing campaign convinced some electors to vote Clinton. There are two parts to this. First, the Republican electors have no political incentive to buck the voters. (Remember many are local elected officials themselves). The other part is that let’s say the electors in PA were convinced to vote against Trump, as well as say, Michigan. Conservatives would be screaming that the Democrats — and all those brown people, don’t forget — stole the election. That’s pretty powerful meme.

And on top of that, you’d have a bunch of ostensibly progressive people trying to justify it. Telling folks that their choice was shitty is a losing political strategy. “Well, we convinced them to vote against the way the state did because Trump was dangerous” doesn’t work against a lot of ingrained tradition. It isn’t logical — but that’s the point. Politics is absolutely, totally, completely a-rational and a-logical. Mr. Spock would have a brain meltdown trying to figure out the American electorate.

Here’s what scares the heck out of me: there is nothing to prevent Trump from issuing an executive order like FDR’s to intern the Japanese. Nothing at all. How many Americans would happily obey it? How many would just shoot their neighbors, because the bigot won and the electorate has said, “all that horrific KKK racism is A-OK?”

If you think that’s implausible, I give you Bosnia. I give you Germany.

The leaders never wanted him to win the nomination and didn’t think he was really a “republican”. They didn’t really support him and many nevertrumpers actually wanted him to lose.

Now that he won everything is different and they are getting behind him and kissing his ass.

So yeah – no or just a few defections.

Not enough to matter.

That is my prediction.

You’re telling us that the leaders of the Republican Party are so shallow and unconcerned with party ideology that they would vote against their nominee solely on the basis of thinking that the Democratic candidate had a better chance of winning?

Excuse me, I’m in spasms of laughter. Give me a minute…

Okay, so from RickA, we get that in both 2008 and 2012, all the leaders of the Republican Party voted for Barack Obama because he had a better chance of winning.

You’re a piece of work, RickA…

I think it was because they thought Trump had no prayer of winning and Clinton had it in the bag.

Now that they know Trump won I bet it is different.

I don’t expect very many if any defections.

But we will see.

Why would a republican slate of electors vote for Clinton?

Why did all those (dozens of) Republican Party leaders vote for Clinton?

Probably all for the same reason. Maybe even some of them have signed the petition, too.

It won’t matter if a hundred million sign the petition.

Why would a republican slate of electors vote for Clinton?

They wont’.

Sure maybe one or two will be faithless – but not wholesale defections from their own party.

But the petition is a useful outlet for their despair and certainly better than rioting.

There are more that 150 cases in the past of Electors who voted other than what their state’s popular votes indicated “they should” vote.

But that’s your problem: This is “the voting system they’ve known for their entire lives”. It’s just not the voting system they expect it to be.

If you truly want to avoid these kinds of “civil war” type situations, then you’d be in favor of eliminating this troublesome Electoral College and replacing it with exactly what people expect of their voting system: That the candidate with the largest popular vote is the candidate that wins.

Because that’s not the system we have today.