On Monday, members of the Electoral College convened in every state to do their thing. As everyone is aware by now, Donald Trump was chosen as U.S. president on Election Day. And at 5:35pm EST, Trump surpassed the 270 electoral votes needed to officially become president-elect. CNN confirmed the tally, and the New York Times kept a running tab on today’s events with Trump passing 270 slightly later than he was expected to do so with Texas. Yet despite a delay, Trump scored the needed bods.
Trump’s victory was guaranteed unless 37 of his 306 electors decided to go rogue. Clearly, that didn’t happen, but Washington saw four electors (out of twelve) who did not choose Hillary Clinton in accordance with voters. Instead, three chose Colin Powell and one went with Native American activist Faith Spotted Eagle, who’s a big hit on Twitter.
Of course, all of this was a mere formality, no matter what the Internet believes. Not even revelations about Russian election hacking could change this outcome (though it could make the future interesting), nor does it matter that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by over 2.5 million ballots.
Trump shall be inaugurated president in 31 days (on January 20), and the next four years are guaranteed to be a roller coaster.
(Via New York Times & CNN)