GOP electors cite rural voice in Electoral College

ATLANTA (AP) — As members of the Electoral College prepare to choose Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, some Republican electors say they are defending rural and small-town America against big-state liberalism and its support for national popular vote leader Hillary Clinton.

[...] Trump is line to get 306 of the 538 electoral votes under the state-by-state distribution of electors used to choose presidents since 1789.

"A presidential election decided each time by either California or New York," he said, would leave voters in Alaska and many other places "with no voice" in presidential politics.

[...] the dynamics highlight the delicate balance in a political structure that defines itself simultaneously as a democracy and a republic.

Electors vote, with rare exception, for whichever candidate won the most votes in their state — effectively meaning the presidential election is 51 separate popular votes.

Put another way, Alaska's three electors will cast 0.56 percent of the 538 electoral votes despite casting just 0.23 percent of the national popular vote.

The Electoral College-popular vote split, along with Trump's larger-than-life personality and lack of elective experience, has fueled a vocal, but almost certainly futile, movement to deny him the presidency by pressuring electors to vote against him when they convene Monday in the 50 states and Washington, D.C.

[...] Democratic elector Eric Herde from Washington state argued that the country should scrap electoral votes in favor of the national ballot count.