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538-member U.S. Electoral College expected to officially confirm Trump's presidency amid turmoil

Xinhua, December 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

The 538-member U.S. Electoral College is expected to officially confirm President-elect Donald Trump's presidency on Monday amid disputes and turmoil fuelled by the CIA conclusion that Russia intervened the U.S. election partly in bid to harm Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

The electors, chosen by their state political parties, convene in statehouses and Washington D.C. on Monday and cast two votes -- one for president and one for vice president.

Though the former secretary of state takes a lead over Trump by nearly three million popular votes up to now, Trump is projected to win the most electoral votes. The Nov. 8 Election Day voting results showed he won 306 electoral votes to Clinton's 232.

The long-shot hope of the so-called "Hamilton Electors" aimed to dump Trump is that at least 37 electors vote against the will of their states so as to deprive Trump of the 270 electoral vote majority. However, it is widely thought that their chance is nearly zero since the number of would-be "faithless electors" are quite small and some of them are even Democrats.

So far only one Republican elector, identified as Christopher Suprun from Texas, has publicly claimed he will vote for an alternative candidate.

Another Republican elector, Christina Hagan from Ohio, said earlier on Monday that she decided to step down after a one-week lawsuit arguing that state lawmakers can not serve as electors under the Ohio state law. Ohio's electors will pick a replacement for her later on the day.

David Bright, a Maine Democratic elector, announced on Facebook that he will vote on Monday for Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton's strongest rival during Democratic primaries, in a bid to help the battled Democratic Party woo back young voters.

"I see no likelihood of 38 Republican electors defecting from their party and casting their ballots for Secretary Clinton," he said.

"So Hillary Clinton will not become President, and there is nothing I can do about that. Knowing this, I was left to find a positive statement I could make with my vote", said Bright on Facebook.

The number of electors each state has is equal to its number of representatives and senators in Congress -- 538 in total, with those extra three electors coming from Washington District of Columbia. Among them are state party leaders, elected officials or just individuals with a personal connection to a presidential candidate. Enditem