At least five Democrats who had been committed to back Hillary Clinton in the US Electoral College cast ballots for other people on Monday, the largest number of "faithless electors" seen in well over a century.
The 538 electors were voting across the country to confirm Republican Donald Trump as the next president. The event is normally a formality but took on extra prominence this year after some Democrats urged electors to revolt and switch to Clinton, who won the national popular vote on 8 November.
In the end, it was not Republicans breaking ranks. The Democratic dissidents - four from Washington state and one from Maine - underscored deep divisions within their party and effectively dashed long-shot hopes by some activists that Republicans pledged to Trump might back Clinton.
Clinton lost last month's election on a state-by-state basis despite winning the popular vote nationwide by nearly 2.9 million votes, raising questions about the role of the Electoral College, established in 1787.
It was a surprising twist to have Democratic electors change their votes and become what is known as "faithless electors."
Four of the 12 Democratic electors in Washington state broke ranks, with three voting for Colin Powell, a former Republican secretary of state, and one for Faith Spotted Eagle, a Native American elder who has protested oil pipeline projects in the Dakotas.
In Maine, Democratic elector David Bright said he would cast his vote for Clinton's rival for the party nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who carried the state in the party nominating contest.
In Colorado, where a state law requires electors to cast their ballots for the winner of the state's popular vote, elector Michael Baca tried to vote for Ohio's Republican governor, John Kasich - and was replaced. Baca had waged an unsuccessful legal battle against the law.
By late afternoon, no Republican elector was reported to have cast a ballot for anyone other than Trump, although one elector from Texas had written that he planned to do so.
There is almost no chance that Monday's vote will change the outcome of the election, which gave the White House to Trump after he won a majority of Electoral College votes. The New York businessman is set to take office on 20 January.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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