Nevada’s six electors officially cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton Monday in a 30 minute perfunctory meeting in the Capitol’s Old Assembly Chambers.
Nationally, there was a big push for voters in other states to change their ballot and reject Donald Trump as president. But in Nevada, the outcome is guaranteed by the Uniform Faithful Electors Act of 2013 that mandates electors vote for the candidate who got the most popular votes.
“You will be required under state law to cast your ballot for Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine,” elections deputy Wayne Thorley told them.
Besides, the pro-Clinton protesters already had what they wanted in Nevada — she won in Nevada.
Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske told the six, three alternates and some 30 spectators theirs and the votes in the other 49 states and District of Columbia would be opened, tallied and made official in a joint session of Congress set January 6.
There are a total of 538 electors. Each state has the number of its congressional delegation — Nevada’s four House seats and two Senate seats totals six — and Washington D.C. gets three electors.
Nevada’s six Democratic electors were Paul Catha II, Greg Gardella and Theresa Benitez-Thompson of Reno, Joetta Brown of Minden, Larry Jackson of Fallon and Dayananda Prabhu Rachakonda of Las Vegas.
Similar meetings were held in all 50 state capitals and in D.C. Monday. As Cegavske told the electors, the electoral college “is a process, not a place.”
With Hawaii still to vote, Trump had 304 votes and Clinton had 224. It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency. Texas put Trump over the top, despite two Republican electors casting protest votes.
The Electoral College has 538 members, with the number allocated to each state based on how many representatives it has in the House plus one for each senator. The District of Columbia gets three, despite the fact that the home to Congress has no vote in Congress.
Even one of Trump’s fiercest Republican rivals, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, said it was time to get behind the president-elect.
“We want unity, we want love,” Kasich said as Ohio’s electors voted to back Trump at a statehouse ceremony. Kasich refused to endorse or even vote for Trump in the election.
A joint session of Congress is scheduled for Jan. 6 to certify the results of the Electoral College vote, with Vice President Joe Biden presiding as president of the Senate. Once the result is certified, Trump will be sworn in on Jan. 20.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
