WASHINGTON — There were many protesters but few faithless electors as Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote Monday — ensuring he will become America’s 45th president.

An effort by anti-Trump forces to persuade Republican electors to abandon the president-elect came to practically nothing and the process unfolded largely according to its traditions. Trump’s polarizing victory Nov. 8 and the fact Democrat Hillary Clinton had won the national popular vote had stirred an intense lobbying effort, but to no avail.

Even one of Trump’s fiercest Republican rivals, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, said it was time to get behind the president-elect.
• Minnesota electors vote for Clinton, after one goes rogue

“We want unity, we want love,” Kasich said as Ohio’s electors voted to back Trump at a statehouse ceremony. Kasich refused to endorse or even vote for Trump in the election.

With Hawaii still to vote, Trump had 304 votes and Clinton had 224. It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency. Texas put Trump over the top, despite two Republican electors casting protest votes.

Befitting an election filled with acrimony, thousands of protesters converged on state capitols across the country Monday, urging Republican electors to abandon their party’s winning candidate.

More than 200 demonstrators braved freezing temperatures at Pennsylvania’s capitol, chanting, “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA!” and “No treason, no Trump!”

In Madison, Wisconsin, protesters shouted, cried and sang “Silent Night.” In Augusta, Maine, they banged on drums and held signs that said, “Don’t let Putin Pick Our President,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Despite the noise outside state Capitols, inside, the voting went pretty much as planned.

In Nashville, Tennessee, one audience member tried to read out some Scripture before the ballots were cast, but was told he could not speak.

“We certainly appreciate the Scripture,” State Election Coordinator Mark Goins said from the podium. “The answer is no.”

With all Republican states reporting, Trump lost only the two electors in Texas. One voted for Kasich, the Ohio governor; the other voted for former Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Clinton lost four electors in Washington state — three voted for former Secretary of State Colin Powell and one voted for Native American tribal leader Faith Spotted Eagle.

Several Democratic electors in other states tried to vote for protest candidates but they either changed their votes to Clinton or were replaced.

The Electoral College has 538 members, with the number allocated to each state based on how many representatives it has in the House plus one for each senator. The District of Columbia gets three, despite the fact that the home to Congress has no vote in Congress.

Republican electors were deluged with emails, phone calls and letters urging them not to support Trump. Many of the emails are part of coordinated campaigns.

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, elector Charlie Buckels reached out to Trump’s opponents after the New York businessman got all of the state’s eight votes.

“For those of you who wished it had gone another way, I thank you for being here,” said Buckels, the state GOP finance chairman. “I thank you for your passion for our country.”

There is no constitutional provision or federal law that requires electors to vote for the candidate who won their state — though some states require their electors to vote for the winning candidate.

Those laws, however, are rarely tested. More than 99 percent of electors through U.S. history have voted for the candidate who won their state. Of those who refused, none has ever been prosecuted, according to the National Archives.

Some Democrats have argued that the Electoral College is undemocratic because it gives more weight to less populated states. That is how Clinton, who got more than 2.8 million more votes nationwide, lost the election to Trump.

Some have also tried to dissuade Trump voters by arguing that he is unsuited to the job. Others cite the CIA’s assessment that Russia engaged in computer hacking to sway the election in favor of the Republican.

“When the founders of our country created (the Electoral College) 200-plus years ago, they didn’t have confidence in the average white man who had property, because that’s who got to vote,” said Shawn Terris, a Democratic elector from Ventura, California. “It just seems so undemocratic to me that people other than the voters get to choose who leads the country.”

A joint session of Congress is scheduled for Jan. 6 to certify the results of the Electoral College vote, with Vice President Joe Biden presiding as president of the Senate. Once the result is certified, the winner — almost certainly Trump — will be sworn in on Jan. 20.</s>President-elect Donald Trump officially secured the White House on Monday evening, and Texas electors were the ones who put his Electoral College count over the top.

Despite the hopes of those who gathered outside state capitols across the country, protesting and urging electors to vote for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, or, well, anyone other than President-elect Trump, the 538 members of the Electoral College convened and cast their ballots more or less as they were expected to.

For most of the day the only "faithless electors" to pop out of the woodwork showed up in states that Clinton won. A Maine elector voted for Bernie Sanders while a Minnesota elector stated he couldn't vote for Clinton, and was replaced by someone who could. In Washington, four Democratic electors opted for other candidates — three voted for Colin Powell and one voted for Faith Spotted Eagle, one of the leaders of the Dakota pipeline protests.

Protesters were outside the capitol building in Austin by 8 a.m., long before the electors were slated to arrive. They held signs and urged electors to vote for anyone but Trump, according to USA Today. The protesters also submitted a petition with more than 265,000 signatures asking the electors not to support Trump.

Inside the capitol, the process of casting votes was slow and was about as interesting as watching paint dry. (The state Legislature's Christmas tree and decorations did at least give those watching streaming video of the proceedings something more than just the electors and company to look at.)

The shouts of protesters stationed outside the capitol since early that morning grew louder until their cries — calling the electors by name and urging them to save our democracy — reverberated in the state House chamber.

When the vote was finally held, it was done by secret ballot. In the end, 36 of the state's electoral votes went for Trump, while one person voted for Ohio Gov. John Kasich and another voted for former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul.

It's pretty obvious one of the "faithless voters" was Chris Suprun, the Dallas-based elector who penned an op-ed in the New York Times earlier this month announcing that he could not in good conscience support Trump, a move that got him death threats, as we've recently reported. But it's not clear who decided to go rogue and support Paul.

Either way, Texas electors were the last of the states Trump carried to vote and they brought him over the 270-mark. Ultimately, Trump won the Electoral College with just 304 electoral votes, one of the smallest margins of victory in a presidential election in U.S. history. On January 6 Congress will convene in a joint session and certify the votes.

Texas lawmakers are already intent on preventing the "Suprun situation" from ever happening again. A bill has already been filed in the Texas House to fine a “faithless elector” $5,000. If the bill makes it through the state legislative session, anyone who decides to vote their conscience in the future will have to pay for it.

There's no word yet on whether state lawmakers now want to do away with the secret ballot system as well.</s>Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted signs certificates validating the vote of the Electoral College in Columbus, Ohio, Monday, Dec. 19, 2016. All 18 of Ohio's Electoral College members voted Monday for Republican Donald Trump despite opposition by protesters outside the state capitol building.

WASHINGTON — There were many protesters but few faithless electors as Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote Monday  ensuring he will become America's 45th president.

An effort by anti-Trump forces to persuade Republican electors to abandon the president-elect came to practically nothing and the process unfolded largely according to its traditions. Trump's polarizing victory Nov. 8 and the fact Democrat Hillary Clinton had won the national popular vote had stirred an intense lobbying effort, but to no avail.

"We did it!" Trump tweeted Monday evening. "Thank you to all of my great supporters, we just officially won the election (despite all of the distorted and inaccurate media)."

He later issued a statement saying: "With this historic step we can look forward to the bright future ahead. I will work hard to unite our country and be the President of all Americans."

Even one of Trump's fiercest Republican rivals, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, said it was time to get behind the president-elect.

"We want unity, we want love," Kasich said as Ohio's electors voted to back Trump at a statehouse ceremony. Kasich refused to endorse or even vote for Trump in the election.

With all states voting, Trump finished with 304 votes and Clinton had 227. It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency. Texas put Trump over the top, despite two Republican electors casting protest votes.

Befitting an election filled with acrimony, thousands of protesters converged on state capitols across the country Monday, urging Republican electors to abandon their party's winning candidate.

More than 200 demonstrators braved freezing temperatures at Pennsylvania's capitol, chanting, "No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA!" and "No treason, no Trump!"

In Madison, Wisconsin, protesters shouted, cried and sang "Silent Night." In Augusta, Maine, they banged on drums and held signs that said, "Don't let Putin Pick Our President," referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Despite the noise outside state Capitols, inside, the voting went pretty much as planned.

In Nashville, Tennessee, one audience member tried to read out some Scripture before the ballots were cast, but was told he could not speak.

"We certainly appreciate the Scripture," State Election Coordinator Mark Goins said from the podium. "The answer is no."

With all Republican states reporting, Trump lost only the two electors in Texas. One voted for Kasich, the Ohio governor; the other voted for former Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Clinton lost four electors in Washington state three voted for former Secretary of State Colin Powell and one voted for Native American tribal leader Faith Spotted Eagle. She also lost an elector in Hawaii to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Clinton beat Sanders in the Democratic primaries.

Several Democratic electors in other states tried to vote for protest candidates but they either changed their votes to Clinton or were replaced.

The Electoral College has 538 members, with the number allocated to each state based on how many representatives it has in the House plus one for each senator. The District of Columbia gets three, despite the fact that the home to Congress has no vote in Congress.

Republican electors were deluged with emails, phone calls and letters urging them not to support Trump. Many of the emails are part of coordinated campaigns.

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, elector Charlie Buckels reached out to Trump's opponents after the New York businessman got all of the state's eight votes.

"For those of you who wished it had gone another way, I thank you for being here," said Buckels, the state GOP finance chairman. "I thank you for your passion for our country."

There is no constitutional provision or federal law that requires electors to vote for the candidate who won their state though some states require their electors to vote for the winning candidate.

Those laws, however, are rarely tested. More than 99 percent of electors through U.S. history have voted for the candidate who won their state. Of those who refused, none has ever been prosecuted, according to the National Archives.

Some Democrats have argued that the Electoral College is undemocratic because it gives more weight to less populated states. That is how Clinton, who got more than 2.8 million more votes nationwide, lost the election to Trump.

Some have also tried to dissuade Trump voters by arguing that he is unsuited to the job. Others cite the CIA's assessment that Russia engaged in computer hacking to sway the election in favor of the Republican.

"When the founders of our country created (the Electoral College) 200-plus years ago, they didn't have confidence in the average white man who had property, because that's who got to vote," said Shawn Terris, a Democratic elector from Ventura, California. "It just seems so undemocratic to me that people other than the voters get to choose who leads the country."

A joint session of Congress is scheduled for Jan. 6 to certify the results of the Electoral College vote, with Vice President Joe Biden presiding as president of the Senate. Once the result is certified, the winner almost certainly Trump will be sworn in on Jan. 20.

Associated Press writers Paul Weber in Austin, Texas, Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, Erik Schelzig and Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Kathleen Floody and Alex Sanz in Atlanta, Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Marina Villeneuve reported from Augusta, Maine, Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Washington, and Juliet A. Williams in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.</s>WASHINGTON -- There were many protesters but few faithless electors as Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote Monday -- ensuring he will become America's 45th president.

An effort by anti-Trump forces to persuade Republican electors to abandon the president-elect came to practically nothing, and the process unfolded largely according to its traditions. Trump's victory Nov. 8 and the fact Democrat Hillary Clinton had won the national popular vote had stirred an intense lobbying effort, but to no avail.

The effort injected more anger and partisanship into the already divisive 2016 presidential campaign.

"We did it!" Trump tweeted Monday evening. "Thank you to all of my great supporters, we just officially won the election (despite all of the distorted and inaccurate media)."

[TRUMP: Timeline of president-elect’s career + list of appointments so far]

Even one of Trump's fiercest Republican rivals, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, said it was time to get behind the president-elect.

"We want unity, we want love," Kasich said as Ohio's electors voted to back Trump at a Statehouse ceremony. Kasich refused to endorse or vote for Trump in the election.

Trump had 304 votes and Clinton had 227. It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency. Texas put Trump over the top despite two Republican electors casting protest votes.

Befitting an election filled with acrimony, thousands of protesters converged on state capitols across the country Monday, urging Republican electors to abandon their party's winning candidate.

More than 200 demonstrators braved freezing temperatures at Pennsylvania's Capitol, chanting, "No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA!" and "No treason, no Trump!"

In Madison, Wis., protesters shouted, cried and sang "Silent Night." In Augusta, Maine, they banged on drums and held signs that said, "Don't let Putin Pick Our President," referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In Harrisburg, Pa., Ray-Ellen Kavey, 68, said he had driven from neighboring New York state to try to persuade Pennsylvania's electors to switch allegiance.

"I think the Constitution charges the electors with preventing exactly what is happening here -- a hostile takeover of our government by a bigot who has been supported by Russia," Kavey said. "I know nothing will come of this, but my conscience won't let me do any less."

Despite the noise outside state capitols, inside, the voting went mostly as planned.

In Nashville, Tenn., one audience member tried to read out some Scripture before the ballots were cast, but was told that he could not speak.

"We certainly appreciate the Scripture," state Election Coordinator Mark Goins said from the podium. "The answer is no."

With all Republican states reporting, Trump lost only the two electors in Texas. One voted for Kasich, the Ohio governor; the other voted for former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

Clinton lost four electors in Washington state -- three voted for former Secretary of State Colin Powell and one voted for American Indian tribal leader Faith Spotted Eagle. She also lost an elector in Hawaii to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Clinton beat Sanders in the Democratic primaries.

Several Democratic electors in other states tried to vote for protest candidates but they either changed their votes to Clinton or were replaced.

In Albany, N.Y., former President Bill Clinton sat in the state Senate chamber as an elector and cast one of the Empire State's 29 electoral votes for his wife.

"I've never cast a vote I was prouder of," he told reporters after the meeting.

In a statement, Trump called the vote "a historic electoral landslide," though his percentage of the Electoral College would rank the victory only 46th out of the 58 U.S. presidential elections.

The Electoral College has 538 members, with the number allocated to each state based on how many representatives it has in the House plus one for each senator. The District of Columbia gets three, despite the fact that the home to Congress has no vote in Congress.

Republican electors were deluged with emails, phone calls and letters urging them not to support Trump. Many of the emails were part of coordinated campaigns.

In Baton Rouge, elector Charlie Buckels reached out to Trump's opponents after the New York businessman got all of the state's eight votes.

"For those of you who wished it had gone another way, I thank you for being here," said Buckels, the state GOP finance chairman. "I thank you for your passion for our country."

There is no constitutional provision or federal law that requires electors to vote for the candidate who won their state -- though some states require their electors to vote for the winning candidate.

Those laws, however, are rarely tested. More than 99 percent of electors through U.S. history have voted for the candidate who won their state. Of those who refused, none has ever been prosecuted, according to the National Archives.

Some people have argued that the Electoral College is undemocratic because it gives more weight to less populated states. That is how Clinton, who got more than 2.8 million more votes nationwide, lost the election to Trump.

"It just seems so undemocratic to me that people other than the voters get to choose who leads the country," said Shawn Terris, a Democratic elector from Ventura, Calif.

Some have also tried to dissuade Trump voters by arguing that he is unsuited to the job. Others cite the CIA's assessment that Russia engaged in computer hacking to sway the election in favor of the Republican.

A joint session of Congress is scheduled Jan. 6 to certify the results of the Electoral College vote, with Vice President Joe Biden presiding as president of the Senate. Once the result is certified, the winner -- almost certainly Trump -- will be sworn in Jan. 20.

Information for this article was contributed by Stephen Ohlemacher, Paul Weber, Julie Carr Smyth, Marc Levy, Scott Bauer, Erik Schelzig, Jonathan Mattise, Kathleen Floody, Alex Sanz, Melinda Deslatte, Marina Villeneuve and Juliet A. Williams of The Associated Press; by John McCormick of Bloomberg News; and by Ed O'Keefe of The Washington Post.</s>WASHINGTON: America’s Electoral College on Monday confirmed Donald Trump’s election as the 45th president of the United States, unswayed by a desperate bid by die-hard opponents to bar the Republican’s path to the White House.

Six weeks after his upset victory over the Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump sailed as expected past the 270 votes needed to make his victory official according to US media, clearing the way for him to succeed Barack Obama on January 20.

“We did it!” the 70-year-old billionaire tweeted after the results came in. “Thank you to all of my great supporters, we just officially won the election (despite all of the distorted and inaccurate media).”

In a statement released by his team, the president-elect welcomed the “overwhelming vote” in his favor, while reaching out to the Democrats who sought against the odds to block him.

“With this historic step we can look forward to the bright future ahead,” he said. “I will work hard to unite our country and be the president of all Americans.”

Under normal circumstances, the college vote is a little-watched, rubber stamp formality in which electors — most of them party members — officially cast ballots for the candidate that won the popular tally in their state.

This time, however, the divisive nature of the campaign, Trump’s provocative personality, and Clinton’s lead of nearly three million votes in the popular tally combined to raise the stakes.

The Electoral College vote works like this: when US voters cast ballots on November 8, they did not directly elect the president but rather 538 electors charged with translating their wishes into reality.

Democratic activists casting the Republican as a threat to the nation staged a vocal, weeks-long campaign urging electors to break ranks and refuse to vote for him.

To bar Trump’s road to the White House, they needed to convince at least 37 Republican electors to abandon their candidate.

The odds of that happening were considered next to none.

According to a New York Times tally, a total of seven so-called “faithless” electors defected for someone else than their party’s nominee, the biggest number ever.

In Washington state, three of the state’s 12 electoral votes went to former Republican secretary of state Colin Powell and a fourth went to Faith Spotted Eagle, a Native American leader who helped block the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.

An elector in Hawaii cast a vote for Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s opponent in the Democratic primaries. Two Texas Republican electors defected, one voting for former representative Ron Paul and another for Ohio Governor John Kasich.

One Texas Republican elector, Christopher Suprun, had publicly said he would not vote for Trump, arguing he is unqualified to be president for reasons including conflicts of interest created by his vast overseas business holdings.

Suprun says he received death threats as a result.

An online petition urging electors to reject Trump collected some five million supporters. Hollywood stars including Martin Sheen recently released a video to goad electors to dump Trump.

Undeterred by their outside chance of success, protesters rallied Monday at statehouses from Pennsylvania to Texas to Utah as electors gathered across the country to cast their votes.

In Wisconsin, where Trump carried a thin margin that was key to propelling him into the Oval Office, a few protesters chanted “Shame!” as the state’s 10 electoral votes for Trump were announced, the Times reported.

“I feel the fate of our nation is at stake here,” protester Ray-Ellen Kavey, 68, told The Washington Post outside the capitol building of the Rust Belt state of Pennsylvania.

“I know nothing will come of this, but my conscience won’t let me do any less.”

In New York, former president Bill Clinton cast one of the state’s 29 electoral votes for his wife.

“I’ve never cast a vote I was prouder of,” he was quoted as saying by the Post.

The Republican National Committee welcomed the result — and urged Democrats to accept Trump’s victory once and for all.

“This historic election is now officially over,” RNC co-chair Sharon Day said in a statement. “For the good of the country, Democrats must stop their cynical attempts to undermine the legitimacy of this election.”

The anti-Trump movement gained further momentum in recent days amid the uproar over allegations of Russian hacking aimed at swaying the vote in favor of the Republican.

Even in the unlikely event that Trump had lost the Electoral College vote, it would have been up to the House of Representatives — controlled by Republicans — to designate the successor to President Barack Obama.

The final vote result will be formally announced in the US Congress on January 6, two weeks before the next president is to be inaugurated. AFP</s>WASHINGTON – There were many protesters but few faithless electors as Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote Monday, ensuring he will become America’s 45th president.

An effort by anti-Trump forces to persuade Republican electors to abandon the president-elect came to practically nothing, and the process unfolded largely according to its traditions. Trump’s polarizing victory Nov. 8 and the fact Democrat Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote by more than 2.8 million votes had stirred an intense lobbying effort, but to no avail.

“We did it!” Trump tweeted Monday evening. “Thank you to all of my great supporters, we just officially won the election (despite all of the distorted and inaccurate media).”

He later issued a statement saying: “With this historic step we can look forward to the bright future ahead. I will work hard to unite our country and be the President of all Americans.”

Even one of Trump’s fiercest Republican rivals, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, said it was time to get behind the president-elect.

“We want unity, we want love,” Kasich said as Ohio’s electors voted to back Trump at a statehouse ceremony. Kasich refused to endorse or even vote for Trump in the election.

With all states voting, Trump finished with 304 votes and Clinton had 227. It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency. Texas put Trump over the top, despite two Republican electors casting protest votes.

Befitting an election filled with acrimony, thousands of protesters converged on state capitols across the country Monday, urging Republican electors to abandon their party’s winning candidate.

More than 200 demonstrators braved freezing temperatures at Pennsylvania’s capitol, chanting, “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA!” and “No treason, no Trump!”

In Madison, Wisconsin, protesters shouted, cried and sang “Silent Night.” In Augusta, Maine, they banged on drums and held signs that said, “Don’t let Putin Pick Our President,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

And yet, with all Republican states reporting, Trump lost only the two electors in Texas. One voted for Kasich; the other voted for former Texas Rep. Ron Paul. Clinton, on the other hand, lost four electors in Washington state – three voted for former Secretary of State Colin Powell and one voted for Native American tribal leader Faith Spotted Eagle. She also lost an elector in Hawaii to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Clinton beat Sanders in the Democratic primaries.

There is no constitutional provision or federal law that requires electors to vote for the candidate who won their state – though some states require their electors to vote for the winning candidate.

More than 99 percent of electors through U.S. history have voted for the candidate who won their state.</s>Trump, who is set to take office on Jan. 20, garnered more than the 270 electoral votes required to win, even as at least half a dozen U.S. electors broke with tradition to vote against their own state’s directives, the largest number of “faithless electors” seen in more than a century.

The Electoral College vote is normally a formality but took on extra prominence this year after a group of Democratic activists sought to persuade Republicans to cross lines and vote for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. She won the nationwide popular vote even as she failed to win enough state-by-state votes in the acrimonious Nov. 8 election.

Protesters briefly disrupted Wisconsin's Electoral College balloting. In Austin, Texas, about 100 people chanting: “Dump Trump” and waving signs reading: “The Eyes of Texas are Upon You” gathered at the state capitol trying to sway electors.

In the end, however, more Democrats than Republicans went rogue, underscoring deep divisions within their party. At least four Democratic electors voted for someone other than Clinton, while two Republicans turned their backs on Trump.

With nearly all votes counted, Trump had clinched 304 electoral votes to Clinton's 227, according to an Associated Press tally of the voting by 538 electors across the country.

"I will work hard to unite our country and be the President of all Americans," Trump said in a statement responding to the results.

The Electoral College assigns each state electors equal to its number of representatives and senators in Congress. The District of Columbia also has three electoral votes. The votes will be officially counted during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6.

When voters go to the polls to cast a ballot for president, they are actually choosing a presidential candidate's preferred slate of electors for their state.

The "faithless electors" as they are known represent a rare break from the tradition of casting an Electoral College ballot as directed by the outcome of that state's popular election.

The most recent instance of a "faithless elector" was in 2004, according to the Congressional Research Service. The practice has been very rare in modern times, with only eight such electors since 1900, each in a different election.

The two Republican breaks on Monday came from Texas, where the voting is by secret ballot. One Republican elector voted for Ron Paul, a favorite among Libertarians and former Republican congressman, and another for Ohio Governor John Kasich, who challenged Trump in the race for the Republican nomination.

Republican elector Christopher Suprun from Texas had said he would not vote for Trump, explaining in an op-ed in the New York Times that he had concerns about Trump's foreign policy experience and business conflicts.

On the Democratic side, it appeared to be the largest number of electors not supporting their party's nominee since 1872, when 63 Democratic electors did not vote for party nominee Horace Greeley, who had died after the election but before the Electoral College convened, according to Fairvote.org. Republican Ulysses S. Grant had won re-election in a landslide.

Four of the 12 Democratic electors in Washington state broke ranks, with three voting for Colin Powell, a former Republican secretary of state, and one for Faith Spotted Eagle, a Native American elder who has protested oil pipeline projects in the Dakotas.

Bret Chiafalo, 38, of Everett, Washington, was one of three votes for Powell. He said he knew Clinton would not win but believed Powell was better suited for the job than Trump.

The founding fathers "said the electoral college was not to elect a demagogue, was not to elect someone influenced by foreign powers, was not to elect someone who is unfit for office. Trump fails on all three counts, unlike any candidate we’ve ever seen in American history," Chiafalo said in an interview.

Washington's Democratic governor, Jay Inslee, said after the vote that the Electoral College system should be abolished. "This was a very difficult decision made this year. There is great angst abroad in the land,” Inslee said.

Twenty-four states have laws trying to prevent electors - most of whom have close ties to their parties - from breaking ranks.

In Maine, Democratic elector David Bright first cast his vote for Clinton's rival for the party nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who carried the state in the party nominating contest. His vote was rejected, and he voted for Clinton on a second ballot.

In Hawaii, one of the state’s four Democratic electors cast a ballot for Sanders in defiance of state law binding electors to the state’s Election Day outcome, according to reports from the Los Angeles Times and Honolulu Star-Advertiser newspapers.

In Colorado, where a state law requires electors to cast their ballots for the winner of the state's popular vote, elector Michael Baca tried to vote for Kasich - but was replaced with another elector.

In Minnesota, one of the state’s 10 electors would not cast his vote for Clinton as required under state law, prompting his dismissal and an alternate to be sworn in. All 10 of the state’s electoral votes were then cast for her.</s>Donald Trump has won the electoral college vote despite protests across the US - ensuring he will become America’s 45th president.

An effort by anti-Trump forces to persuade Republican electors to abandon the president-elect came to practically nothing and the process unfolded largely according to its traditions.

Mr Trump’s polarising victory on November 8th and the fact Democrat Hillary Clinton had won the national popular vote had stirred an intense lobbying effort, but to no avail.

The tycoon tweeted on Monday evening: “We did it!” He added: “Thank you to all of my great supporters, we just officially won the election (despite all of the distorted and inaccurate media).”

He later issued a statement saying: “With this historic step we can look forward to the bright future ahead. I will work hard to unite our country and be the president of all Americans.”

Even one of Mr Trump’s fiercest Republican rivals, Ohio governor John Kasich, said it was time to get behind the president-elect.

“We want unity, we want love,” Mr Kasich said as Ohio’s electors voted to back Mr Trump at a statehouse ceremony. Mr Kasich refused to endorse or even vote for Mr Trump in the election.

With all states voting, Mr Trump finished with 304 votes and Ms Clinton had 227. It takes 270 electoral college votes to win the presidency. Texas put Mr Trump over the top, despite two Republican electors casting protest votes.

Befitting an election filled with acrimony, thousands of protesters converged on state capitols across the country on Monday, urging Republican electors to abandon their party’s winning candidate.

More than 200 demonstrators braved freezing temperatures at Pennsylvania’s capitol, chanting: “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA!”

In Madison, Wisconsin, protesters shouted, cried and sang Silent Night. In Augusta, Maine, they banged on drums and held signs that said “Don’t let Putin Pick Our President,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Despite the noise outside state Capitols, inside, the voting went pretty much as planned.

With all Republican states reporting, Mr Trump lost only the two electors in Texas. One voted for Mr Kasich and the other for veteran Texan politician Ron Paul.

Ms Clinton lost four electors in Washington state — three voted for former Secretary of State Colin Powell and one for Native American tribal leader Faith Spotted Eagle. She also lost an elector in Hawaii to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who she beat in the Democratic primaries.

Several Democratic electors in other states tried to vote for protest candidates but they either changed their votes to Ms Clinton or were replaced.

The electoral college has 538 members, with the number allocated to each state based on how many representatives it has in the House plus one for each senator. The District of Columbia gets three, despite the fact that the home to Congress has no vote in Congress.

Republican electors were deluged with emails, phone calls and letters urging them not to support Mr Trump. Many of the emails are part of co-ordinated campaigns.

There is no constitutional provision or federal law that requires electors to vote for the candidate who won their state — though some states require their electors to vote for the winning candidate.

Those laws, however, are rarely tested. More than 99 per cent of electors through US history have voted for the candidate who won their state. Of those who refused, none has ever been prosecuted, according to the National Archives.

Some Democrats have argued that the electoral college is undemocratic because it gives more weight to less populated states. That is how Ms Clinton, who got more than 2.8 million more votes nationwide, lost the election to Mr Trump.

Some have also tried to dissuade Trump voters by arguing that he is unsuited to the job. Others cite the CIA’s assessment that Russia engaged in computer hacking to sway the election in favour of the Republican.

“When the founders of our country created (the electoral college) 200-plus years ago, they didn’t have confidence in the average white man who had property, because that’s who got to vote,” said Shawn Terris, a Democratic elector from Ventura, California.

“It just seems so undemocratic to me that people other than the voters get to choose who leads the country.”

A joint session of Congress is scheduled for January 6th to certify the results of the electoral college vote, with vice president Joe Biden presiding as president of the Senate. Once the result is certified, the winner — almost certainly Mr Trump — will be sworn in on January 20th.</s>In the end, there wasn't much drama in Monday's electoral college vote. Electors across the United States, despite showing a bit more independence than they usually do, ratified the coming presidency of Donald Trump, confirming that the New York real estate developer will take the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2017.

At the Texas state capitol in Austin, more than three hours of procedural maneuvering ended with a bit of a surprise. Two electors pledged to Donald Trump chose not to vote for the president-elect, instead casting ballots for John Kasich and former Texas congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul.

Despite the votes being cast by secret ballot, the vote for Kasich almost certainly came from Dallas-based elector Chris Suprun, who pledged to vote for the Ohio governor and former Trump rival earlier this month. "Fifteen years ago, I swore an oath to defend my country and Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. On Dec. 19, I will do it again," Suprun said in a New York Times op-ed explaining that he would not vote for Trump and that he would encourage other electors to do the same.

Despite the pleas from Suprun and the more than 265,000 who signed a petition dropped off by protesters at the Texas Secretary of State's office on Monday, only one of Suprun's colleagues joined him in breaking with tradition and refusing to vote for the candidate chosen by Texas voters. Four additional electors resigned their posts and were replaced by Trump-supporting electors, but only one of those who resigned, Art Sisneros, admitted to doing so because he didn't want to vote for Trump.

The Texas Democratic Party expressed disappointment that Texas electors and those around the country upheld the longstanding American institution.

"The Electoral College has failed American democracy. An unfit, unworthy man will assume the presidency. It is now up to Democrats to protect our families and communities," Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said. "We applaud the handful of Republican patriots that rejected Donald Trump, either refusing to vote for him or resigning their post. Unfortunately, it was too little and too late. "

After electors finished casting their vice-presidential ballots — Mike Pence got 37 votes and Carly Fiorina got one — Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted support for binding delegates to the winner of Texas' popular vote.</s>(CNN) Donald Trump surpassed the necessary 270 votes in the Electoral College on Monday, taking the next step in the official process to become President.

Trump received 304 electoral votes to Hillary Clinton's 227. Seven "faithless" electors voted for other candidates, costing Trump two votes and Clinton four. Hawaii's votes -- three for Clinton and one breaking from the state's results and supporting Bernie Sanders -- were the last to be counted.

The results mean Trump -- who lost the popular vote by more than 2 percentage points to Clinton -- easily staved off a long-shot bid by opponents to turn Republican electors against him.

The Electoral College results will be officially certified January 6 during a joint session of Congress.

"This election represents a movement that millions of hard working men and women all across the country stood behind and made possible. With this historic step we can look forward to the bright future ahead. I will work hard to unite our country and be the president of all Americans. Together, we will make America great again," Trump said in a statement.

He also claimed his win was "a historic electoral landslide victory in our nation's democracy," though Clinton actually won the popular vote by about 3 million ballots nationwide making Trump the worst-performing winner in the popular vote since 1876.

Trump was put over the top by electors in Texas. Thirty-six of the state's 38 went for Trump, while two ignored the state's Election Day results. One voted for Ohio Gov. John Kasich and one backed former Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

The first response from Trump's camp came from Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who tweeted: "Congratulations to @RealDonaldTrump; officially elected President of the United States today by the Electoral College!"

Pence also wrote, "I'm honored & humbled to be officially elected today as the next Vice President of the United States of America by the Electoral College."

In Washington state, four electors opted for other candidates, instead of backing Hillary Clinton. Three cast ballots for former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and one backed Faith Spotted Eagle, a Native American activist who's been involved in the North Dakota pipeline fight.

Those Washington electors also picked a mixed bag for the vice presidency. One voted for home-state Sen. Maria Cantwell. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine each got votes, as well. And one went to activist Winona LaDuke, Ralph Nader's running mate as the 2000 Green Party nominee for vice president.

This is the first US presidential election since 1872 with more than one "faithless elector."

Former President Bill Clinton cast his ballot for his wife as an elector in the state of New York.

"As an elector from my home state of New York, I've never been more proud to cast a vote than my vote today for @HillaryClinton," he tweeted.

When all the votes were counted in November, the President-elect won 306 electoral votes to Clinton's 232. Some have since called on electors to vote against their state results, after Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million ballots nationwide.

The 538 men and women voted primarily in accordance with the results from November in their state. The electors, chosen by state parties of the candidate who carried each state, convened in all 50 state capitals and the District of Columbia.

While electors are technically chosen to independently cast their ballots for president, both precedent and, in most cases, state laws require them to abide by the people's vote in each state.

After a fraught election, some have called on electors to vote against their state results.

In Minnesota, one elector was disqualified after declaring he would vote for someone other than his state's winner, Clinton. Under state law, he was replaced, and the alternate voted for Clinton.

Protests had popped up around the country Monday as frustrated Americans sought one last opportunity to stop the candidate they opposed.

But mass defections of electors was always extremely unlikely.

Thirty-seven of Trump's pledged 306 electors would have had to vote against him, becoming so-called "faithless electors," to keep him under the 270 threshold to become President. If Clinton were to reach 270 in that far-fetched scenario, she could have become President. If no candidate reached 270, the House of Representatives would have held a vote when Congress reconvenes in January.

There have been a handful faithless electors in past cycles, though never enough to change the outcome of the race.

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, whose state was won by Trump, tweeted a picture of the ballot for electors in his state. It featured a ballot for Trump as President and Mike Pence as vice president.

Elsewhere in the country, Americans protested near electoral voting sites in a last-ditch plea to stop Trump's election, despite the high unlikelihood of success.

In Tallahassee, Florida, protestors began gathering before 10 a.m. outside of the Senate Chamber entrance on the fourth floor of the Florida State Capitol. Asked if he actually expected any outcome other than 29 votes for Trump, Democracy Spring's Maxwell Frost sighed. "I'm hoping for the best," he said. "We'll see what happens."

While Trump has claimed he won in a landslide victory, that description is inaccurate. He is expected to garner just 56.9% of the electoral vote, assuming all electors vote according to their states' results. That will give Trump the 44th-largest share of the electoral vote out of 54 presidential elections since the modern system started in 1804.

The electoral votes will be officially counted on January 6, when Congress returns. Vice President Joe Biden will preside over the count.

Lawmakers can technically object -- in writing, with objections signed by at least one House and one Senate member -- to individual electoral votes or entire states' results. If the House and Senate support that objection, the vote or votes in question are thrown out. But that has never happened.

Trump will be officially set for his inauguration at noon on January 20 once all the electoral votes are counted.
A record number of electors break ranks and do not vote for their assigned candidate. Two electors from Texas vote for John Kasich and Ron Paul. Some of the electors from Washington cast three votes for Colin Powell and one vote for Faith Spotted Eagle. One elector from Hawaii votes for Bernie Sanders.