On January 6, Congress tallied the electoral votes that had been cast in state capitols on December 19. Congress accepted all the votes as cast, including the seven votes cast for persons other than Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. See this story. There had been some talk that some members of Congress might try to object to the votes cast for persons other than Trump and Clinton.
Seven individuals received electoral college votes for president, the most since 1796.
2016 had more electoral college votes (for president) for persons who had not won the election in that state, in all U.S. history.
Meanwhile, lawsuits over whether electors have a constitutional right to vote for the person of their choice are pending in U.S. District Courts in California, Colorado, and Washington. There is also a Minnesota case pending in the Eighth Circuit, Abdurrahman v Dayton, 16-4551. It had been filed by Democratic elector Muhammad Abdurrahman on December 19, 2016, the very day the electoral college was meeting. The U.S. District Court dismissed the case because of laches, because it was filed so late. The U.S. District Court order of December 23 said that the cases in the other states had all been filed before the electoral college met, which the judge said is what Abdurrahman should have done.
The U S Constitution makes Congress the final arbiter of Presidential Electors votes. The Judiciary has no constitutional role in deciding which Electors can cast their votes or for whom.
Just as a matter of individual sovereignty, each elector has the right to vote for who she or he wants to vote for. Otherwise why even bother having an electoral college in the first place?
There were objections to the votes from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Federal statute requires that objections be made in writing by at least one representative and one senator. None had the support of a senator. There is also a requirement that the objections be made without argument. After a vote had been announced, an objection would be made. The representative would then try to argue the case and be cut off. VP Biden would then ask if the objection was in writing and whether it was signed by a senator. The representative would then be forced to admit that it had “not yet” received a signature from a senator.
Towards the end, the objections were all by Maxine Waters and Sheila Jackson Lee, who became increasingly shrill (beyond their base level). Maxine Waters eventually wondered whether a single senator would sign on. Maybe she will run for senator in 2018.
These were the first electoral votes cast for someone from Vermont (Bernie Sanders) and Washington (Maria Cantwell).
No electoral vote has ever been cast for someone from Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, or Utah.
Ron Paul is the oldest person to receive an electoral vote, at 81yr3mo; a little over two months older than Henry G. Davis who was the Democratic vice-presidential candidate in 1904 (the meeting of electors was on January 9, 1905.