Electoral College meets amid last-minute effort to deny Donald Trump presidency

Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann speaks with Jackson businessman and civil rights leader Charles Evers, right, as members of the state’s Electoral College wait to formally cast their votes in the 2016 general election for president and vice president of the United States at the Capitol in Jackson.

Electoral College member Joe Sanderson reaches for another copy of the Certificate of Vote to sign, stating that he is one of six electors to cast his vote Dec. 19, 2016, for Republican President-elect Donald Trump at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss.

Idaho electors Caleb Lakey, center, and Jennifer Locke prepare to vote for two replacement electors with Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney, left, and Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter on Dec. 19, 2016, at the state Capitol in Boise, Idaho. Melinda Smyser and Layne Bangerter had to be replaced as electors because they are federal employees.

Indiana Gov.-elect Eric Holcomb speaks to the state’s 11 representatives of the Electoral College before they formally cast their votes for President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence on Dec. 19, 2016, in Indianapolis.

Randall Kirkpatrick, one of Indiana’s 11 representatives to the Electoral College, signs paperwork to officially cast votes for President-elect Donald Trump at the Statehouse on Dec. 19, 2016, in Indianapolis.

Daniel Bortner, one of Indiana’s 11 representatives to the Electoral College, holds the paperwork that he signed to officially cast votes for Vice President-elect Mike Pence at the Statehouse on Dec. 19, 2016, in Indianapolis.

Protesters demonstrate outside the Pennsylvania Capitol before electors arrive to cast their votes Dec. 19, 2016, in Harrisburg.

Ron Raz, 66, joins protesters demonstrating outside the Pennsylvania Capitol on Dec. 19, 2016, before electors arrive to cast their votes.

Protesters demonstrate Dec. 19, 2016, ahead of a meeting of Pennsylvania representatives to the Electoral College to cast the state’s electoral votes for president.

Protesters demonstrate ahead of Pennsylvania’s 58th Electoral College at the state Capitol in Harrisburg on Dec. 19, 2016. The demonstrators were waving signs and chanting in freezing temperatures as delegates began arriving at the state Capitol to cast the state’s electoral votes for president.

Protesters demonstrate ahead of Pennsylvania’s 58th Electoral College at the state Capitol in Harrisburg on DEc. 19, 2016.

Protesters gather outside the Statehouse in Boston ahead of Massachusetts’ Electoral College vote Dec. 19, 2016.

Protesters hold signs spelling the word “democracy” during a demonstration to protest the Electoral College on Dec. 19, 2016, in Boston.

Protesters against President-elect Donald Trump hold signs outside the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka on Dec. 19, 2016. Six electors of the Electoral College will cast their votes inside the Senate chambers.

Vermont electors Martha Allen, second from left, Gov. Peter Shumlin, center, and State Rep. Tim Jerman, D-Essex, are sworn in Dec. 19, 2016, by Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos, left, before casting their ballots for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at the Statehouse in Montpelier.

Daniel Brezenoff, who started a Change.org petition demanding electors support the popular vote winner, arrives at the Texas Capitol on Dec. 19, 2016, before delivering a box containing signatures to the office of the Texas Secretary of State in Austin.

Protesters hold signs during a demonstration to protest the Electoral College’s selection of President-elect Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 19, 2016.

A group of electors have a discussion during the meeting of the the 16 Georgia electors Dec. 19, 2016, in Atlanta.

Protesters rally Dec. 19, 2016, to urge Electoral College members to vote their conscience at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y.

Protesters gather at the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City on Dec. 19, 2016, while the state’s six Republican presidential electors meet to cast their votes for Donald Trump.