SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah’s six presidential electors cast their votes Monday for President-elect Donald Trump in front of a room packed with protesters chanting, “Dump Trump!”, “The whole world is watching!” and “Do the right thing!”
When Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox announced the results a few minutes later, the crowd topping 150 broke into loud boos and chants of “Shame on you!”
Utah’s six electors, who were picked by several thousand Republicans at the state GOP convention earlier this year, were all required to vote for Trump under state law because the billionaire won the state’s popular vote.
In interviews ahead of Monday’s vote, Utah’s six Republican electors told The Associated Press that they all intend to vote for Trump, as they’re required to do under state law because the billionaire won the state’s popular vote. Some were Trump supporters. Others who were not said they preferred him to Hillary Clinton or felt obliged to follow the will of Utah’s popular vote.
In addition to the protests and chants during the Monday vote, the six electors told The Associated Press in interviews that they had been inundated with calls, emails and letters from people around the country also urging them not to vote for Trump.
Many of the other 532 electors who will also cast votes Monday reported receiving a similar deluge, with those lobbying them arguing that Clinton won the country’s popular vote and that Trump isn’t fit to be president.
When he could finally be heard Monday over loud boos, Cox, a Republican who oversees Utah elections, thanked the crowd for their passion and said “I hope you know that this matters. That all of this matters.”
Cox regularly criticized Trump during the campaign and the president-elect’s comments questioning the validity of election results.
Hours before the electors’ midday vote, the protesters amassed inside the state Capitol, holding signs that read, “What Would Hamilton Do?” and “Trump is not fit,” and speakers would emerge from the crowd and list their concerns about Trump or read passages from the Constitution.
Organizer Liz Rank said that Trump’s 45.5 percent win in Utah meant that most of the state voted for someone else for president, so the electors wouldn’t have been bucking the will of the people by also picking someone other than Trump.
Melinda McIlwaine of Salt Lake City said she’s lost a lot of sleep over the election. McIlwaine, 64, said she thinks it’s unethical for the Electoral College to move forward with the process while U.S. officials and Congress are still investigating Russia for its suspected meddling in America’s election process.
“I certainly hope they are aware of the dissatisfaction that is rampant in the population,” McIlwaine said before the electors cast their vote.
The votes from Utah and all other states will be counted on Jan. 6 by Congress.
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