If Trump wins by just a few EVs, should Hillary try to flip electors?

[IceAgeComing]

I've thought this over and the only justification that would sit with me (and the American people as a whole) is if she won the popular vote by a clear, decisive amount. If she gets 48% to Trumps 44% nationwide and a few electors in a swing state like Florida where the race will likely come down to the decimal number switch hands, she might be able to get away with it. Maybe.

The Congress may not certify such a vote.

in any theoretical scenario where there's that large of a popular vote gap with Florida within a few hundred votes then we can probably assume that Florida is the tip-over state; then Clinton would win either way since either they have to count Florida and Clinton wins, or they challenge Florida, get it overruled and then Clinton still wins since she'd have a majority in the other states.  They could try challenging certain electors and not others but there's no precedent for that and no one really knows whether they can actually do things like that.

[Arbitrage1980]

This is political fantasy; NOT gonna happen. 

First, the electors are highly partisan loyalists, not people selected at random. It depends on the state, but they are usually chosen at state conventions, so only those who have a demonstrated track record of service to the party will be chosen. Second, the Constitution prevents current officeholders or government employees from serving as electors, so there is virtually no chance of them being bribed or falling under duress due to conflict of interest. Third, the identities of the electors are PUBLIC, so if a Trump elector swings the election to Hillary, he/she will become the most infamous American, overnight. Basically, this is something fun to talk about, but there is virtually a zero probability of it happening.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Absolutely not.

[cwt]

This is political fantasy; NOT gonna happen. 

First, the electors are highly partisan loyalists, not people selected at random. It depends on the state, but they are usually chosen at state conventions, so only those who have a demonstrated track record of service to the party will be chosen. Second, the Constitution prevents current officeholders or government employees from serving as electors, so there is virtually no chance of them being bribed or falling under duress due to conflict of interest. Third, the identities of the electors are PUBLIC, so if a Trump elector swings the election to Hillary, he/she will become the most infamous American, overnight. Basically, this is something fun to talk about, but there is virtually a zero probability of it happening.

There was already one Republican elector who stated he would refuse to vote for Trump.

He had to step down due to public pressure, but if he hadn't said anything he'd still be an elector.

http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/08/03/georgia-republican-says-he-might-withhold-electoral-college-vote-from-donald-trump/

[Tender Branson]

If the election itself is clean, then hell no.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

This is political fantasy; NOT gonna happen. 

First, the electors are highly partisan loyalists, not people selected at random. It depends on the state, but they are usually chosen at state conventions, so only those who have a demonstrated track record of service to the party will be chosen. Second, the Constitution prevents current officeholders or government employees from serving as electors, so there is virtually no chance of them being bribed or falling under duress due to conflict of interest. Third, the identities of the electors are PUBLIC, so if a Trump elector swings the election to Hillary, he/she will become the most infamous American, overnight. Basically, this is something fun to talk about, but there is virtually a zero probability of it happening.

The identities are public, but they vote by secret ballot, which is why (to my knowledge) we still don't know who voted for John Ewards in 2004.

[Arbitrage1980]

This is political fantasy; NOT gonna happen. 

First, the electors are highly partisan loyalists, not people selected at random. It depends on the state, but they are usually chosen at state conventions, so only those who have a demonstrated track record of service to the party will be chosen. Second, the Constitution prevents current officeholders or government employees from serving as electors, so there is virtually no chance of them being bribed or falling under duress due to conflict of interest. Third, the identities of the electors are PUBLIC, so if a Trump elector swings the election to Hillary, he/she will become the most infamous American, overnight. Basically, this is something fun to talk about, but there is virtually a zero probability of it happening.

There was already one Republican elector who stated he would refuse to vote for Trump.

He had to step down due to public pressure, but if he hadn't said anything he'd still be an elector.

http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/08/03/georgia-republican-says-he-might-withhold-electoral-college-vote-from-donald-trump/

He was operating under the assumption that Trump would lose by a margin of greater than 1 electoral vote, in which case a faithless vote would simply be a protest and not affect the outcome of the election. Faithless electors have almost always been by the losing candidate.

[7,052,770]

Second question:
What if Hillary wins the popular vote, and the electoral college is something along the lines of Trump 268, Hillary 264, McMullin 6? I think that's fundamentally different than trying to flip an election that Trump "won."

Third question:
What if Hillary wins the popular vote, and the electoral college is something along the lines of Hillary 268, Trump 264, McMullin 6? In that situation I actually give it better than 50-50 that the electors pick Hillary outright, even if she doesn't openly campaign for it.