[ot-caption title=”An anti-Trump protest in Chicago. (via nathanmac87, Flickr)”]

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On Tuesday, November 8th, Democrats and Republicans alike held their breath as the votes for the 2016 Presidential Election were tallied. From the start, this presidential race has been unlike any other, filled with drama. Intense support of each candidate led this election to be one of the most nail-biting elections in history.

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Hillary Clinton was the favorite to win going into Election Day, leading by a slight margin over Donald Trump in a majority of major polls.  Countless Americans were shocked when Donald Trump won the presidency. The occurrence sparked outrage in Clinton’s followers, many of whom view Trump as a racist, a sexist, and a bigot. Some of these citizens took to the streets in protest. They drew as much media attention as possible, chanting “not my president” while marching through the streets of major cities. Additionally, they argue that Clinton won the popular vote, and therefore should have won the election. However, this is not the first time in history the Democrats have won the popular vote but lost the electoral college. In fact, five other candidates experienced the same thing.

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The real question is: Could the President Elect really change now? There are multiple ways that this could happen, which I discussed with Ms. Bass, the government teacher here at Pine Crest. “Two realistic possibilities could happen, in my opinion. Number one is that the electors will be meeting in December to vote. They could each pick their candidate instead of letting it go to the state majority.” There is only a slim prospect of this happening, though. Electors cast their official votes on December 19, and although there is no piece of federal legislation stopping them from changing their decision, faithless electors traditionally have not existed. Fifteen states let their electors vote however they want, while thirty-five give small penalties, at most a fine of $1,000, to electors who change their votes. But “going rogue,” or not voting for your state majority, is extremely frowned upon.  The only instances in which this has happened are in very high-stake, emotional elections, and the 2016 election could very well fit in this category.

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There is a second possibility. The protests “could lead to an amendment to get rid of the electoral college,” Ms. Bass says. “It’s been proposed many times, but it requires approval from three fourths of the states, which has not happened. If the electoral college is gone, it would greatly diminish the power of smaller states.” Thirty-eight states would need to ratify this amendment for it to pass, so the odds are not in the Democrats’ favor. Yet, in this election, it seems all rules have been turned upside down, so though this outcome is implausible, anything is technically still possible. Many of the protesters are fighting for just this- the president to be decided by solely the people. Numerous online petitions have been popping up; websites like petition.moveon.org, dailykos.com, and change.org have been bombarded with web traffic. Abolishing the electoral college is becoming more and more likely, but it is very unlikely that this change will occur before President Elect Donald Trump is sworn into office.

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Some believe that the protests will bring about change, but two Pine Crest teachers think otherwise. Dr. Herard said, “I think the results of the election are in, so I don’t know if protests will necessarily change the result. I think the energy will motivate people to get involved in politics, if not changing it.”  Ms. Rashbaum agreed, “Not all protests are designed to evoke change. If their goal is not to change something, but to bring attention to something, then it will be effective.”  This is a popular argument used by many denouncers of the “Not My President” Movement.  The First Amendment right to protest should allow groups of people to express their opinions and push for change, but many doubt a clear pathway to making that change happen in the case of the Anti-Trump movement. In some scattered cases, notably in Portland, peaceful protests morphed into destructive riots. This was not unforeseen, given the dynamic of tension surrounding the election itself.

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Full supporters of President Elect Trump, those holding onto hope that Candidate Clinton could still be sworn into office, and those who are somewhere in-between do have one thing in common: they are all going to remember this election.  This election cycle was a contentious one, and it will be hard to forget.  There is no way of knowing how much longer protesters will persist. But whether or not Donald Trump is the candidate sworn into office, we are in for an interesting four years.

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Sources: New York Times, Huffington Post, Telegraph, Washington Post, Independent, Fair Vote, Move On, Daily KOS, Change.org

Photo Source: Flickr