Colorado's Presidential Electors Cast 9 Votes For Biden And Harris At State Capitol Monday
DENVER (CBS4) — Colorado's nine presidential electors met at the State Capitol Monday to cast their votes for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Electors were told they had no choice.
The electors were sworn in to the words, "And I will vote for the presidential and vice presidential candidates that received the highest number of votes."
That mean Biden for president and Harris for vice president.
Victoria Marquesen was one of the electors. She told CBS4's Rick Sallinger, "I know that this was ceremonial the votes have already been cast, I didn't expect to be emotional about it, but it was."
The Trump campaign and some Republicans would not and still do not accept the reported vote. Instead, challenging results without success in battleground states.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold told CBS4, "I think there have been some heightened tensions around the electoral process and my office
received some not-so-pleasant phone calls and interactions."
In the past though there was a different issue. In 2016 elector Michael Baca tried to cast his ballot for Republican John Kasich instead of Democrat Hillary Clinton. That was after Baca took a pledge to cast his ballot following the will of the people of Colorado.
"I was in a position four years ago where I had people to represent, but ultimately had had my free will," he said last month.
Or so he thought, but the U.S. Supreme Court decided he did not. The court upheld state laws that punish so-called "faithless electors" who break their pledge and vote for a candidate other than the one who won the state's popular vote.
This year went more smoothly, even in the middle of a pandemic. Before entering the electors were required to take a COVID-19 test. If they tested positive there were alternate electors standing by to take their places.
Gov. Jared Polis and Secretary of State Jena Griswold presided over the meeting of Colorado's presidential electors and Colorado's chief justice delivered the oath of office.
The Colorado vote now goes to Vice President Mike Pence to present to Congress in January along with the votes from the rest of the Electoral College. A separate copy will go to the National Archives.
RELATED: Supreme Court Ruling Upholds Colorado Law To Punish 'Faithless Electors'
