
The national Electoral College vote tally is being tracked here and, as of this moment, Donald Trump is not quite at the 270 votes he needs to become president.
But he's close.
None of that is thanks to Washington State's 12 electors, zero of whom cast votes for Trump when they gathered in Olympia at noon today.
With feather quill pens in hand, with Washington State voters' 54 percent support for the Clinton-Kaine ticket on their minds, and with a founding member of the anti-Trump "Hamilton Electors" movement among them, this state's electors mostly cast their votes for Clinton and Kaine.
But there were a few notable acts of "faithless" electoring today—including a remarkably strong "Colin Powell for President" contingent. Here's the official vote tally from Olympia:
PRESIDENT:
8 for Hillary Clinton
1 for Faith Spotted Eagle
3 for Colin Powell
VICE PRESIDENT:8 for Senator Tim Kaine
1 for Senator Elizabeth Warren
1 for Senator Susan Collins
1 for Senator Maria Cantwell
1 for Wynona La Duke
Nate Silver is not amused:
There are some not-too-distant alternate realities where these 4 votes would have cost Clinton the Electoral College. https://t.co/08K2eyjdGV
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) December 19, 2016
However, "Hamilton Elector" co-founder and Washington State elector Bret Chiafalo told me on Blabbermouth last week that he and his compatriots would never have voted against Clinton if she actually needed their support to win.
UPDATE: Donald Trump has the Electoral College votes he needs to become the next president.