On December 19th Electors Cast Votes!
Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, December 2, 2016 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler
If you thought the election was tough, you should be GLAD you’re not an elector from Georgia. They’re being hammered with emails and calls, begging them to betray Georgia voters and cast their ballots for ANYBODY but Trump.
Harassment shifted into overdrive when leaflets that were passed out at anti-Trump rallies gave the names, addresses and contact information for 16 Republican electors who say they will NOT “flip” for Hillary.
Protesters have been down-right ugly to one Georgia elector. They stole two Trump signs out of her yard and smeared her front door with mud and dirt. Thankfully, they didn’t key her vehicle with profanity about Trump, which they did to her neighbor’s car, but all of them are being deluged with harassing emails and telephone calls, with some from outside Georgia.
Of the 16 electors selected by the Georgia Republican Party, one was replaced after declaring he would not support Trump. Since the alternate’s name was not immediately published, he won’t have as much harassment to endure.The number of electors for each state is determined by the number of the state’s congressional delegation. In the spring or summer before the election, both parties – Republican and Democrat – select individuals to be elected along with the presidential and vice-presidential candidates. Their names may or may not be on the ballot, depending on state rules governing the process, but those selected by the winning candidate’s party become the state’s official electors. So, Georgia’s Republican Party electors will cast their votes for Trump this month.
The 51 groups of electors from across the country – one group from each of the states, plus D.C. – never meet together. They are required to gather on the same day – December 19th this year – in their state. Georgia’s 16 electors will meet in Atlanta, where each will vote on separate ballots for president and vice-president and record their votes individually. Then, each elector will sign, seal, and certify six complete sets of their ballots to be sent to designated officials. A back-up set is sent to the judge who presides over the locale where the electors meet. Atlanta’s presiding judge gets the extra set in Georgia, to be used in case a set is missing or incomplete.
By December 28th the President of the Senate must receive the certified votes; on January 3rd the National Archivist must meet with officials of the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. Then, the U.S. Congress will meet January 6th to count the electoral votes. All of that must happen before Inauguration Day January 20th, and YES, the Electoral College is not only an ingenious system, it’s an equitable system. For Georgia Insight, I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.