2016 Michigan Electors Correspondence collection

The 2016 presidential election was incredibly close in Michigan, requiring some counties to do a recount. Donald Trump earned 2,279,543 votes, while Hilary Clinton garnered 2,268,839 -- a difference of only 10,704. The 16 members of Michigan’s Electoral College met at the Michigan Capitol building in Lansing, where they cast their votes for Donald Trump on December 19th, 2016.

In Michigan, a slate of electors is chosen at each party’s state convention to represent the party’s presidential nominee. Michigan, like 47 other states, uses a statewide popular-vote election to allocate all of its electoral votes. After the results of the popular election are in, it is the electors who represent the winning candidate participate as electors who cast the formal, legal votes for President of the United States. In Michigan, as in many other states, these electors are required to vote for the candidate who won the state’s popular vote by the state’s Constitution. Michigan Election Law also mentions that if an elector were to not vote for the winner of the popular vote, his or her vote would be thrown out and another elector who will follow the will of the people is identified so they can cast that vote.

In the period between the November 8 popular vote and the meeting of the electors there were a number of attempts to get electors to note cast their votes for Donald Trump in key states like Michigan. Jeff Strabone, from New York state, set up a website to help people write to members of the electors across the nation. He listed the postal addresses of all electors and created a downloadable letter template laying out constitutional and political arguments for the electors to not vote for the presumed president-elect. The site also had information about the history of the Electoral College and attempts to abolish it, as well as support information for “faithless electors,” namely electors who do not vote for the candidate that won the state’s popular vote.

At the same time, Daniel Brezenoff started an online petition, “Electoral College: Make Hillary Clinton President,” which accumulated 4,917,959 supporters – a record for change.org . His change.org page also encouraged people to write letters to the electors. In the press and on social media, a debate developed on electors’ duties, the so-called “faithless electors,” and the constitutional history of the Electoral College.*

Strabone’s initiatives went viral. Electors in Michigan and other states received thousands of letters and postcards. Some were simply the text of the template prepared by Strabone, but others were customized and some were even highly personal. At least one Electoral College member, Christopher Suprun from Texas, decided to change his vote and explained in an op-ed published by the New York Times that he believed Donald Trump was not fit for office. In Michigan, no electors changed their votes; again, they are required to follow the outcome of the statewide vote. One elector, Michael Banerian, reported in several media appearances that he had received emails threatening him if he were to vote for Donald Trump.