Electoral voters back Kasich in unlikely Trump alternative plan

A group of electors in Colorado and Washington state is considering an unlikely effort to convince Republican Electoral College voters to abandon President-elect Donald Trump and cast their votes instead for Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R).

Politico reports that the self-proclaimed “Hamilton Electors,” who are at least publicly made up entirely of Democrats, see the former Republican primary candidate as the leading compromise pick for convincing Republican electors to join their cause.

{mosads}In order to overcome Trump’s 306-elector tally and put him below the 270 required to clinch the presidency, the electors would have to somehow convince 37 Republicans to join them in picking an alternative candidate. Any “faithless elector” would also have to grapple with their own state’s laws, which sometimes forbid electors from choosing their own presidential picks.

The group claims to have convinced one Republican elector to abandon Trump but won’t name the person.

The entire scheme is complicated by the fact that Kasich seems uninterested. Even Kasich adviser John Weaver, who has emerged as one of the GOP’s leading Trump critics, doubts whether the Hamilton Electors have any chance at success.

“There’s no question Trump won enough votes in the states to receive over 270 votes when the members of the Electoral College meet,” Weaver told Politico. 

That lack of interest hasn’t stopped the Hamilton Electors from coming close to choosing Kasich as their pick. 

“A consensus is beginning to form that Gov. Kasich would be best positioned to unite America,” Democratic Colorado elector Michael Baca said in a statement to Politico.

The elector group has also been in contact with the Clinton camp, according to Politico. Former Clinton campaign officials declined to comment, but Clinton’s Nov. 9 concession speech suggests that she, too, would not support the plan.