Extract from ABC News
Posted
A group of celebrities have urged Republican members
of the US Electoral College to ditch President-elect Donald Trump and
put forward another candidate when they vote next Monday.
"Our founding fathers built the Electoral College to safeguard the American people from the dangers of a demagogue," Sheen said in the video, released by United for America.
"[Also] to ensure that the presidency only goes to someone who is to an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications."
Those in the video said they were not asking the electors to vote for Hillary Clinton, but to simply vote for any other eligible person, no matter what their party, instead of Mr Trump.
Under the US constitution, the College can prevent a candidate from becoming president if 37 of the 538 members vote in opposition.
"It should be someone you consider especially competent," Messing said in the video.When Americans vote during a presidential election, they are not casting a direct vote for a candidate, but rather the 538 electors, who in turn have the power to elect the president.
If every elector votes in line with their party, Mr Trump will be elected president with 306 votes and Hillary Clinton will receive 232 votes.
However if 37 of Mr Trump's electors do not vote in his favour, no candidate will have the absolute majority required to be president and the House of Representatives will choose the president from the three candidates with most Electoral College votes.
'Stop an unfit man from becoming president'
"By voting your conscience you and other brave Republican electors can give the House of Representatives the option to select a qualified candidate," Richard Schiff of West Wing fame said in the video."The American people trust that your voice stands for us all," Moby said.
"And you will make yourself heard through the constitutional responsibility granted to you by [founding father] Alexander Hamilton himself," singer Freda Payne said.
A group of Democratic electors, who have dubbed themselves the Hamilton electors, have also been working to convince 37 Republican electors to change their vote or abstain from voting altogether.
"[We] are pledging to put America first and vote for a qualified Republican alternative who can unify our country," the group said."The founding fathers intended the Electoral College to stop an unfit man from becoming president."
A petition calling on electors to vote for Mrs Clinton, who won the national popular vote, has attracted almost 5 million signatures.
Today an open letter to electors was published in the Washington Post to "exercise judgment and choice" and "defend the constitution" by not voting for Mr Trump.
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