Texas Moves to Ban 'Faithless Electors'

Only two Republican electors voted against Donald Trump in the Electoral College Monday—but that was two too many for leading Republicans in Texas, where both of the "faithless" GOP electors hail from. The Hill reports that moments after the vote, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted that he was looking forward to signing a bill that would require electors to follow the state's popular votes. "This charade is over," he said. "A bill is already filed to make these commitments binding." One "faithless" Texas elector, Bill Greene, voted for Ron Paul, while the other, Christopher Suprun, voted for John Kasich. Trump's final margin was 304 to 227 for Hillary Clinton. The New York Times reports that his electoral college win ranks 46th out of 58 electoral college margins in US history.

"I consider Mr. Trump still to be a demagogue. He continues to divide us based on whether or not you're male or female, and if you're a female, are you a 4 or a 10; where you worship; the color of your skin," Suprun tells the Austin American-Statesman. A total of five Democratic electors, four in Washington state and one in Hawaii, voted against Hillary Clinton, bringing the total number of faithless electors to a record seven, Politico reports. Three of the Washington electors backed Colin Powell and the fourth chose Faith Spotted Eagle, a Native American activist. The Hawaiian elector voted for Bernie Sanders. The previous record was set in 1808, with six faithless electors. There could have been even more this time around, but election officials blocked electors in several states when they attempted to buck their party's nominee. (More electoral college stories.)