CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Nevada’s six Democratic presidential electors cast their official Electoral College votes for Hillary Clinton on Monday, including three who originally backed her rival Bernie Sanders in Nevada’s caucuses in February.
About 40 protesters demonstrated outside the State Capitol in Carson City with chants and signs denouncing President-elect Donald Trump during the 30-minute ceremony inside the Capitol’s old Assembly chambers.
Anti-Trump forces in states where the Republican won urged their electors to abandon him. But the formal vote was never in doubt in Nevada, where state law mandates the Electoral College votes be consistent with the statewide balloting that gave Clinton the most votes in the Silver State in November.
“Very suspenseful, indeed,” Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Wayne Thorley joked, bringing laughs from the 50 or so people who gathered for the ceremony.
Before submitting their formal ballots, each elector signed a pledge to vote only for the nominee “who received the highest number of votes in this state at the general election.”
If they failed to comply, Thorley told them, their ballot would be vacated and a replacement elector appointed.
“This really is history in the making,” Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske said as she explained the procedures before accepting the ballots. “The Electoral College is a process, not a place.”
Cegavske, a Republican, twice had to correct herself after referring to it as the “electrical” college.
“There I go saying ’electrical,’” she said.
Greg Gardella of Reno, a technology manager at the University of Nevada, Reno who was a staunch backer of Sanders but then voted for Clinton in the general election, took a “selfie” on his cellphone with his fellow electors in the background before the meeting came to order.
All six later joined Cegavske for a series of group photos holding up their ballots.
The session was delayed a few minutes with the late arrival of State Assemblywoman Teresa Benetiz-Thompson, accompanied by her two young daughters. She had supported Clinton all along, as did Jo Etta Brown of Minden and Dr. Rachakonda Prabhu of Las Vegas.
The other two electors who had supported Sanders in the caucuses were Paul Catha II, a Las Vegas native who recently graduated from UNR, and Larry Jackson of rural Fallon.
Each signed six original copies of the state’s formal ballots and certificates of the votes.
Cegavske said one will go be sent to the president of the U.S. Senate - Vice President Joe Biden, who will submit them for formal counting during a joint meeting of Congress on Jan. 6.
The secretary of state’s office keeps two copies. Two go to the U.S. archivist and one to the chief judge of U.S. District Court for the district of Nevada, she said.
Outside the capital, some motorists honked in support of protesters who carried signs that read, “Unfit to lead our nation,” ’’Do what’s right,” and “Electors, uphold our democracy.”
“Love Trumps Hate,” the demonstrators chanted. “Love, not hate, makes America great.”
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