Electors want probe before vote Dec. 19

     In the wake of a government probe into alleged attempts by Russia to disrupt the election process, public officials, college professors and some electors have called for the Electoral College to deliberate and even get intelligence briefings before voting on Dec. 19. 
     In the Nov. 8 election, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic challenger, won the popular vote, gathering support primarily in the heavily populated states along the Eastern and Western coasts. Donald Trump, the Republican, primarily won states in the center of the country, thereby taking the Electoral College.
     Here are recent developments: 

A call for a delay: U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., wants the Electoral College vote delayed. In a statement published on Twitter, he wrote that “recent, credible intelligence reports suggest a concerted effort by a foreign power to interfere in the outcome of our presidential election. I believe the electors should be given all information relevant to this interference before they make their decisions and before they cast their votes…. I call on the leaders of Congress to delay the date of the vote for the Electoral College until an intelligence briefing has been given to each elector."

Electors encouraged to deliberate: In an open letter published in major newspapers and online, a group of electors, college professors and legal experts encouraged members of the Electoral College to investigate and deliberate. Trump’s assumption to office, they wrote, “endangers the Constitution, the freedoms it protects and the continued prosperity and welfare of the United States.” The letter accuses Trump of threatening freedom of speech, freedom of the press, condoning torture and being “uncomfortably close to the regime of Russia.”
    Signers can be viewed on the group’s website. They include two electors, along with professors from University of Alabama, Kent State University in Ohio, Harvard, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, Emory University in Georgia, several universities in Texas and others.

Intelligence briefing requested: Another open letter published Dec. 12 was written by a group of more than 50 electors and addressed to James Clapper, director of national intelligence. In this letter, the electors ask for an intelligence briefing regarding Trump’s ties to Russia. “We intend to discharge our duties as electors by ensuring that we select a candidate for president who, as our Founding Fathers envisioned, would be ‘endowed with the requisite qualifications,’” they wrote, quoting the Federalist Papers. “As electors, we also believe that deliberation is at the heart of democracy itself, not an empty or formalistic task.”

     Related:

     Electoral College landslide or squeaker? 

     Hamilton essay: What it takes to be president

     The role of the Electoral College

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