Less a movement than a series of individual and overlapping acts, the agitators seek to split away two or three votes from among George W. Bush's anticipated 271 Republican electors when the all-important electoral college convenes Dec. 18. If three Bush electors defect and vote for Gore, then the Democrats would win the White House regardless of the current court battles. If two defect, the election would be sent to the Republican-dominated House of Representatives. And Gore himself has rebuffed the efforts. Lehane, however, acknowledged that, in the unlikely event the effort is successful, Gore would have little choice but to accept the presidency, despite earlier comments by the vice president that he would reject the votes.
Electors have some discretion in who they vote for in New Hampshire.
They're not bound by state law to vote for the elector that they're pledged to. So they ought to use their discretion, especially when the election was so close and the popular vote was greater for Gore. In Pennsylvania, T.J. Rooney, a state representative from the Lehigh Valley and a Democratic elector, has undertaken his own campaign to buttonhole four or five Republican electors he knows in other states to entice them to vote for Gore. Perhaps they're just listening out of kindness or collegiality, but I think there's a strong case to be made. . . . The Web site has received more than 54,200 visits since it was posted two days after the election.