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Electoral College Confirms Trump As Next President

(CBS) -- It may not feel like it, but this was election day.

Members of the Electoral College met in state capitals from coast to coast to cast their ballots for president.

CBS 2 Political Reporter Derrick Blakley looks at the vote in Springfield.

You might call it a Blue Monday for the Electoral College in Illinois.

"Blue" because Illinois went overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton, with her slate of Democrats in Springfield backing her with their ballots.

But in other states, a concerted campaign mounted to get GOP electors to vote for someone other than president-elect Donald Trump.

Is it legitimate to convince electors to change their votes?

"It would be improper to suggest that electors ought not to vote their conscience, otherwise there's no purpose in having an Electoral College," says North Central College Professor Stephen Caliendo.

Moviemaker and activist Michael Moore even offered to pay fines required in some states for electors who don't follow the popular vote.

"Even in states where there's a law mandating they vote for who the state voted for, we don't know what higher courts would do if that were challenged," Caliendo says.

Nationwide, a few renegades did break ranks.

In Washington state, four GOP electors refused to vote for Trump. Three voted for Colin Powell, and one for a Native American environmentalist.

Meantime, electors in Maine and Colorado refused to vote for Hillary Clinton.

They were replaced by others who did.

Despite the drama, Trump won the needed 270 votes. Congress will count the votes in January, the final part of the process.

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