The below come to us courtesy of our friend Christian Gil, who as an elector for Donald Trump is now being inundated with phone calls, e-mails and social media messages from Democrats demanding that he become faithless and vote at the Electoral College for someone other than the candidate he was pledged to.

As you might imagine, none of these has moved him from the commitment to make Trump the president, nor have any of them moved any of the other Louisiana electors being harassed and inundated with demands from Hillary Clinton supporters who can’t handle losing an election.

Here’s one from Michigan…

Dear Elector,

I will not accept Donald Trump as our president. We have many reasons during this election to implore the Electoral College to act in accordance with the very reason for its existence, and for Faithless Electors to act with their conscience and cast their votes for Hillary Clinton.

1. We experienced unprecedented interference from a foreign government, as Russia and Wikileaks perpetrated extensive crimes, hacking into private U.S. emails.
2. James Comey broke the Hatch Act and created a false scandal that directly influenced the trajectory of this election.
3. In places like North Carolina, we experienced voter suppression not seen since the Jim Crow era.
4. Donald Trump incited violence at his rallies and openly encouraged voter intimidation that certainly could have kept people away from the polls.
5. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by upwards of 1.8 million votes. And the list goes on…

If ever there were a moment to employ the Electoral College to prevent a disastrous presidency, it is this moment. I am sure, somewhere deep down inside you know this. I implore you to organize around this objective.  There is nothing in the Federal law or the Constitution preventing you from doing the right thing.

Thank you for your time, your service, and your focused attention to this very important matter.

Sincerely,

Lee Ann Olmstead
39 N Washington St
Oxford, MI 48371

And here’s another, this one from…Michigan again.

Dear Elector,

My name is Zachary Neal, and I live in East Lansing, MI.

I am writing to ask you to reflect on the implications of your vote on December 19. Our founders created the Electoral College, and empowered Electors like yourself for a specific reason. They were concerned that misinformation and misunderstanding could led the general public to support a candidate unfit to serve as our leader, and intended it to serve as a check or safety valve to ensure that “the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications” (Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Papers #68).

I am concerned that Donald Trump is not endowed with the requisite qualifications, and indeed would do great harm to our country, if permitted to assume the office of President. He has no prior experience in any kind of governmental role and does not appear to understand basic features of our republic.  Perhaps most concerningly, less than one week following the national election, his transition team begin plans to institute a registry of muslims and cited WWII Japanese internment camps as precedent for the legitimacy of these plans. This is not the America I know.

I am concerned for our country, but am thankful that our founders had the foresight to create a mechanism to avoid such situations. Regardless of the outcome of the popular vote in your own state, I am asking you think about three things on December 19:
(1) Donald Trump appears poised to do great harm to our country and its people.
(2) Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote by at least 1,000,000.
(3) Voting your conscience, and not following the electoral traditions in your state, respects the rule of law and the system of elections our founders intended.

Please consider not casting your electoral vote for Donald Trump on December 19.  In my mind, doing so would not make you a so-called “faithless” elector, but just the opposite – an elector with great faith in our country, and judgement of its people, and the judgement of its founders.

Thank you for your time and consideration, I appreciate and respect the role you serve in our electoral process.

Sincerely,
Zachary Neal

And now for another, this one not being from Michigan…

Dear Elector,

I am writing to you in urgency to not vote for Donald Trump to become President.  He has shown extreme disregard for the security of our country, both in his erratic temperament and his disregard for foreign allies.  He has no experience in government and has had extremely questionable business practices through out his life, none of which makes him a qualified candidate for such a distinguished and powerful position in our country and the world.  His has given a voice to hate in this country that is unacceptable, this country was founded by immigrant’s and has a legacy of accepting all people, do not let that us be divided by condoning racism, xenophobia, sexism, and homophobia in the White House.  Some may still believe that he can be controlled, that Donald Trump did not mean the outlandish things he stated during his campaign and that he will acquiesce to the overall good of our country, but this is too dangerous of a bet to make and in the last week has not acted as if that will be the case.

I understand that the Electoral Vote has never appointed a President, other than the President- Elect, but this process was intended for just this situation.  The elector vote was created to insure that a dangerous person is not elected the President of our country, please use your power to protect the USA.

Thank you for your time and consideration, I appreciate and respect the role you serve in our electoral process.

Sincerely,

Adrienne McPherson
Baltimore, MD

They get a little repetitive, no? Almost like somebody’s been giving these people talking points.

Here’s a doozy – from New York…

Dear Elector,

My name is Sharon Long, from Seaford, NY.

This is not normal.  Trump is not normal.  Hillary Clinton has won the popular vote by an unprecedented amount, and you are the only hope to restore justice to this world.  I’m not being over the top.  People are terrified of his racist, xenophobic, climate-change-denying, uninformed policies. I do not believe for one second that he actually wants to rule as President to improve anything for anyone but himself.  He wanted to win, not rule.  Hillary Clinton would have worked HARD for us, and still deserves the chance to make things right.

As a New Yorker, I am sick and tired of my vote counting less than a vote from Florida, or Michigan.  This electoral system was set up to counteract a lunatic, so let’s please, PLEASE, put this safeguard in place when you vote your CONSCIENCE on December 19.  The whole world is watching and it is your only chance to make things right.  We’ve given him a chance to do the right thing and already, in ONE WEEK the country has erupted into violence and hatred and he is appointing a bunch of hateful, ignorant people.  Bannon?  Giuliani?  His own kids?  Drain the swamp indeed.

You can make a difference and save the world. Literally save the world.  This wasn’t supposed to happen.  Your justifications for doing so are everywhere.  You would be so respected by billions of inhabitants of this planet if you you stood up to this lunatic bully sham con-artist.  Be a super-hero on December 19 and save the world.

Thank you for your time and consideration, I appreciate and respect the role you serve in our electoral process.

Sincerely,

Sharon Long and the whole rest of the planet

Are you persuaded? Christian informs us he is not.

Hey, guess what? Another one from New York…

Dear Elector,

My name is Anne Tatarsky and I live in Rochester, NY.

I am contacting you to urge you to take the necessary action to honor the outcome of the popular vote of this nation and to cast your vote on December 19th for Hillary Clinton to be the next president of the United States.

You have the power to stop this mistake before it happens and remove Donald Trump from his position as President – Elect.  This is a critical time in our country and the choices that are made today will affect the lives of people in this nation for decades to come.

I wholeheartedly believe that you will make a decision that is the best interest of the entire nation and not for only a few who benefit from this election outcome.

The electoral college is an outdated system that does not reflect our modern society.  Americans should be guaranteed that their vote counts!

Thank you for your time and consideration, I appreciate and respect the role you serve in our electoral process.

Sincerely,

Anne Tatarsky

Yes, she actually demanded that a Trump elector from Louisiana vote for Hillary Clinton because Clinton may have gotten a few tenths of a percent more of the national vote than Trump – never mind that Trump beat her by 20 points in Louisiana. And she thinks that argument is persuasive enough to put in an e-mail to a stranger.

But there is more…

Dear Elector,

My name is Heather Wheat, from Colorado.

I am concerned about the reality of  Trump presidency and what it could mean for the not only the people of the United States, but also our image on the global stage. Already, in little over a week, there has been an uptick in hate crimes, and many people in America—including myself—rightly fear for the immigrants and minorities (including LGBTQ  in our lives that are susceptible to these incidents.

Because of these things, not to mention the concern over Russian involvement in the 2016 election, and the fact that Hillary Clinton continues to increase her lead in the popular vote,  the electors must stand up for what is right and must take into consideration the true desire and needs of the American people as whole—not just the “alt-right,” nationalist front that is attempting to take control of our country. Since the 1600s, we have been a nation of immigrants. We cannot turn our backs on our true history and allow fear to take over our country.

Thank you for your time and consideration; I appreciate and respect the role you serve in our electoral process.

Sincerely,

Heather Wheat

hwheat@asu.edu

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Literature asserts that the world as it is imagined is every bit as important as the world as it exists.”

John Freeman

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At least that nut isn’t from New York.

Are any of these from Louisiana? Why, no – but this one is close…

Dear Elector,

My name is Colleen Zori, from Waco, TX.

I have strong concerns about the man who has been “elected” to the White House– he is dangerously unfit to hold the most important office in the country. The choices he has made in terms of his transition team contravene some of the values that I hold dear– he has made choices that reflect his racist and isolationist views and furthermore, his energy plans and choice of transition leader for the EPA jeopardize the shared future of humanity.

His opponent, Hillary Clinton, has the temperament and the experience to lead this country.  Moreover, she has far exceeded his totals in the popular vote– now by more than a million ballots cast.  This seriously compromises the “mandate” behind Trump and shows the degree to which his views and policies are not that of the majority of Americans.

Thank you for your time and consideration, I appreciate and respect the role you serve in our electoral process.

 

Sincerely,

Colleen Zori

Waco, Texas is in McLennan County. Trump carried McLennan County by a 61-34 margin over Hillary Clinton. Perhaps Miz Zori might want to try her powers of persuasion, such as they are, out on her neighbors before hitting up total strangers.

This is getting long, so we’ll only show you one more…

Dear Elector,

My name is Kate Krieg from Seattle, Washington.

I am concerned that the most recent Presidential election will go down in history as a watershed moment compared to Germany in the 1920s. Donald Trump won the electoral votes but he did not win the popular vote. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. You, as an elector, have an opportunity to keep American on a path of democracy and justice.

Please seriously consider voting the way of the popular vote, for Hillary Clinton.

Thank you for your time and consideration, I appreciate and respect the role you serve in our electoral process.

 

Sincerely,

Kate Krieg

With her obsession with the Nazis, do Kate’s friends call her “Blitzkreig?” Or does she just get blitzed every night? Deep questions.

Christian is getting these in a never-ending procession, as are Louisiana’s other electors. Their phones are also ringing.

One wonders if perhaps it wouldn’t be a good idea for someone to set up a clearinghouse website which could be updated with contact information for the obnoxious Clinton supporters harassing Trump electors, so that Trump supporters might similarly contact them to continue litigating the results of a fairly-won election. That’s only fair, is it not?