OK, “unpresidented” isn’t a real word, even though the president-elect used it in a recent tweet.
Still, we are about to witness an unprecedented event on Monday: the once-routine vote of men and women in all 50 states to select the next president of the United States.
This one ain’t routine. Not by a long shot.
The 538 presidential electors are getting lots of pressure. Tons of it. Mountains of it. The integrity of this election has been called into question by allegations of Russian computer hackers tampering with its outcome.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/electors-under-siege-232774
Now we also have electors wondering if the right candidate won the electoral votes needed to become president. One Republican elector, Christopher Suprun of Texas (pictured with this post), believes Donald J. Trump is unqualified. He won’t vote for the guy who carried the Lone Star State. Suprun is now a “faithless elector,” which is legal in Texas.
There might be others.
Oh, man. This could be fascinating in the extreme.
I’ve been alive for 67 years. I have been politically dialed in to presidential elections since, oh, about 1968 … a most tumultuous year, to be sure. I cast my first vote for president in 1972 and I’ve voted every four years since.
My career in journalismĀ enabled me to be an up-close observer of politics and government for 37 years.
Never have any of us seen anything quite like what we’re about to witness Monday. The nation will be watching with a fair amount of interest in what will happen in all the states.
The electors will vote at noon in each state. They’ll start voting along the East Coast and work their way west. The last electoral votes will be case by the electors in Hawaii.
Suffice to say that it’s far from a routine event.
Do you recall how often it’s been said how “unconventional” this presidential campaign has been? It’s been such at every step of the way.
From the candidacy of Donald Trump, to the GOP convention that nominated the first-time candidate for any political office, to theĀ campaign that featured far more insults and innuendo than serious policy discussion, to Election Night when Trump won enough electoral votes to win, but who trails Hillary Rodham Clinton by 2.8 million popular votes.
Hey, the Electoral College vote we’re about to witness is just another step toward weirdness. Indeed, the public’s intense interest in the outcome is bizarre all by itself.