TRENDING

You might have thought that the 2016 presidential election was over. Well, not quite. The electors still need to vote.

On Dec. 19, the 538 members of the electoral college will cast their vote for the president of the United States. What's the electoral college? It's a system that was put into place so that an election could not be solely based on the national popular vote.

More often than not, the electors (that's a member of the electoral college) align with the popular vote of their state. In fact, it's *very* uncommon for electors to be "faithless" and go against that. Why is this relevant? President-elect Donald Trump is predicted to earn 290 electoral college votes (he needs at least 270). But faithless electors have been popping up across the nation and if enough of them do not vote for the president-to-be (though that is unlikely), he could lose his presidency.

One of those potentially faithless electors just so happens to be a 19-year-old Levi Guerra.

Levi is an electoral college representative from Washington state that has stated she will cast her vote in direct opposition of Trump. She is a part of a renegade group of electors, called the "Hamilton electors," whose goal it is to persuade 37 Republican electors not to vote for Trump.

Interestingly, Clinton won the popular vote in Washington state, but Levi will not swing that way. Instead, she'll cast her vote for a qualified alternative Republican candidate, despite being a Democrat herself.

“I’m only 19 and this is my first time being involved in politics,” Levi told the Guardian. “But I hope that my willingness to put my country before my party will show that my generation cares about all Americans.” 

Levi is the seventh person to announce that she will not be voting with her party, and her decision is an attempt to encourage Republican electors in red states to follow her lead.

“I promised those who elected me that I would do everything I could to ensure Donald does not become our president,” Levi said.

Levi is showing us that, despite what history tells us, you do not have to be older and a male to have a voice and potentially make a difference in politics. She is a teenage girl, and she’s ready to start making a change—in fact, we'd say she already is.

How do you feel about Levi’s decision? Let us know in the comments!

Photo credit: The News Tribune

by Amy Garcia | 12/10/2016