Trump presidency faces electoral college test from opponents

The US electoral college is expected to certify Donald Trump as president as they sat on Monday, despite a last-minute effort to thwart the Republican.

BBC reported that the institution’s 538 electors were to vote at state capitols nationwide.

A handful of Democratic electors have been organising a longshot bid to persuade their Republican counterparts to cast ballots against Mr Trump.

The process is usually a formality, but takes place this year amid claims Russian hackers tried to sway the vote.

Under federal law, electors must gather on 19 December, with each elector casting two votes – one for president and one for vice-president.

Their so-called Certificates of Vote must be transmitted by 28 December to Congress and the National Archives in Washington.

On 6 January, US Vice-President Joe Biden will preside as Congress officially tallies the electoral votes.

Once the votes are counted, the results are final, and Mr Trump would be all set for his noon inauguration on 20 January.

The electoral college was set up by the country’s founding fathers as a compromise between allowing Congress and the people to elect the president.

Technically, Americans cast votes on election day for electors, not the candidates themselves.

The electors are mostly elected officials or party functionaries whose names are not on the ballot. They are generally unknown to the public apart from one or two exceptions such as former President Bill Clinton, who is a New York elector this year.

There are 538 electors in all, one for each member of Congress. A candidate needs to take at least 270 electoral votes – half of the total plus one – to win the White House. Mr Trump won 306 electors from 30 states.