Local Electoral College voters asked to change votes

Protests, social media drives and masses of mail both electronic and on paper have stoked a last-ditch effort by Democrats to deny Trump the presidency and hand it to another — namely Hillary Clinton, who received more popular votes but fell short in the state-by-state electoral count.

But it appears there’s no denying Trump entry to the White House either from electors in Ohio or other states he won in November.

Ohio electors likely to stay loyal to Trump

Ohio’s 18 Republican electors — ostensibly bound to Trump — are set to gather at noon in the Statehouse to help push the New York businessman through to inauguration. Local electors say they haven’t been swayed by the mountains of mail and are enthusiastic to vote for Trump, who carried Ohio by 8 points.

“He’s not even president yet and I feel that he’s been moving and getting a lot done. He’s already making a difference,” said first-time elector Judy Westbrock from Centerville. “People seem kind of upbeat like they haven’t been feeling for a while and I think we all need that. It’s a pretty exciting time.”

Westbrock, a state Republican Central Committee member, said more than 300 letters have landed in her mailbox asking her to change her vote — none angry nor threatening and one a Christmas card.

Westbrock is standing firm.

“I’m going to be voting for Donald Trump,” she said. “People in the 10th Congressional District that I am delivering votes for delivered Trump. So this is my obligation.”

Westbrock is an elector for the 10th District which includes Montgomery and Greene counties.

Though Clinton received at least 2.8 million more popular votes across the nation, Trump won a majority of the states’ electoral votes. When citizens voted in November, the ballots showed the names of the presidential and vice presidential candidates, but they were actually electing a slate of “electors” to represent them in each state: the Electoral College.

Could Trump still lose? It’s not likely

The Constitution provides each state one elector for each member of the House of Representatives and one for each senator. Currently, there are 538, including three from the District of Columbia. Should the electors hew to the Nov. 8 result, Trump will win the presidency.

JAMIE DUPREE COLUMN: 2016 rancor spills over to Electoral College

Many calling for the rejection of Trump point to Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist 68, a document that informed the creation of the Electoral College as a way to prevent a “demagogue” from assuming power. So-called “Hamilton electors” would ensure that “the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.”

Critics also say if Trump takes office without clearly separating from his companies with vast real estate holdings and marketing deals overseas and financing from Russians, he will be in immediate conflict with the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which prohibits receiving benefits from companies controlled by foreign governments.

The alarm over evidence of Russian meddling in the election also brought appeals to postpone the Electoral College vote until electors get briefed by intelligence agencies.

While electors such as Westbrock are called on to turn votes away from Trump due to questions over his demeanor, domestic priorities and international loyalties, it’s unlikely even a handful nationwide will be persuaded to change positions, said Jeff Schmitt, who teaches constitutional law at the University of Dayton.

Today’s electors are typically staunch partisans selected by the parties — if not chosen outright by the nominee’s campaign. Defectors are uncommon — last in 2004 when a John Kerry elector from Minnesota voted for John Edwards — and almost unfathomable in a block large enough to upend Trump, Schmitt said.

“Because of the way states have chosen to select electors, the faithless elector — the elector who’s voting for someone else — is going to be pretty rare. It’s hard to imagine we’re going to get 36 people turning away from Donald Trump,” Schmitt said. “I don’t see it happening unless there’s something incredibly dramatic that happens. I don’t see it.”

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Those crafting the Constitution imagined a wholly different set of electors, he said.

“The constitutional system was clearly created with the idea that the electors would have some sort of independent voice,” Schmitt said. “Norms have changed dramatically since the 1700s and these electors are not chosen to be these smart, independent people who are going to use their independent judgment.”

RNC working to make sure electors stay loyal

The Republican National Committee is working to ensure Trump’s 306 GOP electors don’t stray. A loss of 37 electors nationwide would put Trump below the 270 votes needed and force a decision into the House of Representatives.

According the National Conference of State Legislatures, 29 states, including Ohio and the District of Columbia, have laws that bind electors to their state’s top vote getter. But UD’s Schmitt said those little-tested laws are likely unconstitutional.

Credit: Ken-Yon Hardy

Credit: Ken-Yon Hardy

The process is arcane, antiquated and needs to end, said Mark Owens, chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Party. Owens, an Obama elector in 2012, said the Electoral College denied the majority of Americans their preference twice in the last five presidential elections — this year and in 2000 when more people voted for Al Gore but George W. Bush won more electoral votes and after a bitter Supreme Court fight, the presidency.

“Quite frankly it’s absurd that you have a democracy and the winner of the most votes doesn’t take office. There’s a problem with that,” Owens said. “Maybe in 1787 it was a necessary thing at that time. Since that time women got the right to vote. We’ve had the Voting Rights Act. More people participate. It’s a relic of the time and needs to be gotten rid of.”

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New electors speaks out

James Dicke II, chairman and CEO of Crown Equipment based in New Bremen, is a first-time elector but a longtime Republican activist and donor who serves on the Republican National Committee.

He is the elector for the 4th District which includes Shelby, Logan, Champaign and several central Ohio counties.

He said the Electoral College should be viewed as “a series of 50 state elections that are all very different” and provide an indispensable firewall against a direct election that would be skewed by one greatly populated state: California.

“Our system is designed to be one of checks and balances, it’s not designed to be a dictatorship of the 51 percent,” said Dicke, who supported Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s bid before Trump’s nomination.

Because the 2016 electors were identified by the Trump campaign, Dicke anticipates no defections among the Ohio ranks and doubtful few in other states Trump won.

“In some states there is the opportunity for people to vote their conscience but their conscience is probably what has them there pledged to the person they are supporting in the first place,” Dicke said. “One shouldn’t assume that people’s consciences don’t lead them to Donald Trump instead of away from Donald Trump.”

Dicke said he admires Trump’s “bias for action instead of bias for inaction” and is heartened by the election of a Washington outsider.

“Our democracy is set up on the basis of citizens coming and serving for a time and as George Washington did go back home to the farm,” Dicke said. “It’s kind of refreshing for me to see an administration where we’re going to do that for a few years again instead of having a perpetual political ruling class who decide they are going to do this for their whole career.”

Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones, also a first-time elector, said he stood up for Trump early in the campaign as other politicians cowered away from the eventual GOP nominee.

“I think I was the only elected person,” said Jones, a warm-up for the crowds at several area Trump appearances. “He didn’t have a lot of support from office holders. They were afraid to be on the stage. There weren’t any congressmen or senators or governors. It was a lonely place.”

Butler is the elector for the 8th District which includes Clark, Butler, Miami, Preble, Darke and part of Mercer counties.

Jones, too, has been getting calls, emails and 50-60 letters a day. He cautioned other electors against opening letters.

“There are so many kooks out there in the world and people are so angry over this issue you don’t know who’s sending you what in those envelopes,” he said. “I get enough people threatening me through what I do. I’m very outspoken to begin with.”

Jones said no changes are needed in the Electoral College system that propelled Trump.

“The less our government fools with anything the better we all are,” he said. “I don’t want Congress fooling with any of this.”

OHIO ELECTORS

Most electors are assigned by congressional district. Two are at-large delegates.

Local electors

James Dicke II

4th District, Chairman of Crown Equipment in Auglaize County, Republican National Convention committee member

Richard Jones

8th District, Butler County sheriff

Alex Triantafilou

1st District, Hamilton County GOP chair

Judy Westbrock

10th District, Republican State Central Committee member from Centerville

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At-large electors

Ed Crawford

CEO of Cleveland-based Park-Ohio Holdings Corp., Republican National Committee’s lead Ohio fundraiser in 2016

Lee-Ann Johnson

Marietta resident and co-chair of Ohio Women for Trump Coalition, wife of U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson

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Other Ohio electors

Marilyn Ashcraft

6th District, secretary of the Ohio Republican Party

Cheryl Blakely

5th District, Hancock County Trump campaign chairwoman

Curt Braden

16th District, member of the Stark County Board of Elections

Mary Anne Christie

2nd District, honorary chairwoman, Hamilton County Republican Party

Tom Coyne

9th District, Brook Park mayor

Rep. Christina Hagan

7th District, Ohio state representative from Alliance

Leonard Hubert

12th District, Ohio Civil Rights Commission chairman

Ralph King

11th District, Cleveland Tea Party founder

Brian Schottenstein

15th District, president of Columbus-based Schottenstein Real Estate Group

Corey Schottenstein

3rd District, managing partner of Columbus-based Schottenstein Real Estate Group

James Wert

14th District, CEO and president of Cleveland-based CM Wealth Advisors

Tracey Winbush

13th District, treasurer of Republican State Central and Executive Committee

COVERAGE MONDAY

We will have reporters in Columbus as Ohio’s electors vote. You can watch the vote live at noon on DaytonDailyNews.com and look for coverage on our Ohio Politics Facebook page throughout the day. We will also have updates on how other states vote for president.