If the Hamilton Electors’ plan succeeds and in the process deny Trump the 270-vote minimum necessary to be officially elected president, the election then must be decided by the House of Representatives. Electors are scheduled to convene in their respective states this coming Monday to cast their votes. Two prior presidential elections, in 1800 and 1824, were decided by the House of Representatives.

The Hamilton Electors are so named because of Federalist Papers No. 68, in which Alexander Hamilton wrote that electors had a constitutional duty to make sure “that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.” It also encouraged electors to thwart the election of any president who might serve as a vessel for “the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils.”

This latter instruction prompted a bipartisan group of 10 electors to write an open letter on Monday to James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, demanding to know before Dec. 19 the extent of Russia’s involvement in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.