Pa.'s Electoral College members meet Tuesday to vote for Trump
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On Tuesday, Pennsylvania’s 19 Electoral College members will meet at noon in Harrisburg to officially cast their votes to elect Republican Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States.
It will be the 60th gathering of electors in Pennsylvania with the largely ceremonial vote taking place in the chamber of the state House of Representatives.
The process is expected to go off without a hitch – unlike in 2020 when 20 Republicans met in Harrisburg on Dec. 14 – the same day as authorized Biden electors – and signed their names on a certificate of votes, pledging electoral votes for Trump.
Pennsylvania’s unauthorized electors faced no legal consequences, as have those in other states. That’s because their certificate states their votes would only be legal if Trump prevailed in lawsuits claiming he, not Democrat Joe Biden, had won in Pennsylvania. Trump did not prevail in any lawsuit filed in the U.S. challenging results.
Five of Tuesday’s electors were among those signing the 2020 certificate.
They include Bill Bachenberg, the co-owner of Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays in North Whitehall, who served as the group’s chair, and Bernadette Comfort of Fogelsville, who is the vice chair of the Pennsylvania Republican Party. Bachenberg and Comfort could not be reached for comment.
The others are Ash Khare, a state committeeman from Warren County; Patricia Poprik, chair of the Bucks County Republican Committee, and Andrew Reilly, a national committeeman who once served on Delaware County Council.
The other 2024 electors are: Vallerie Biancaniello, Broomall; Curt Coccodrilli, Jefferson Township; Robert Gleason, Johnstown; Joyce Haas, State College; Fred Keller, Middleburg; JonDavid Longo, Slippery Rock; Robin Medeiros, Clarks Summit; Rochelle Pasquariello, Lehighton; Carol “Lynne” Ryan, New Castle; Carla Sands, Camp Hill; James “Jim” Vasilko, Johnstown; T. Lynette Villano, West Pittston; Christine Wilkins, East Stroudsburg/Analomink; and Samuel “Jim” Worthington, Newtown.
Haas, Khare, Poprik, Reilly and Gleason also served as Trump electors when he won in 2016.
Here is a look at the Electoral College process:
U.S. presidents are officially elected through the Electoral College. A candidate must reach 270 votes out of 538 electoral votes to win.
All states, except for Maine and Nebraska, have “a winner-take-all policy,” according to the National Archives.
The distribution of Electoral College members is based on the U.S. Census.
Each state receives two votes for its two U.S. senators plus a number of votes equal to the amount of U.S. House members it has, according to the National Archives. The District of Columbia has had three electors since 1961 when the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution was ratified.
Pennsylvania had 20 Electoral College members in 2020, but now has 19 because it lost a U.S. House seat in 2022 after the latest U.S. Census count.
The electoral process is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. The Founding Fathers viewed it as a middle ground between those who wanted Congress to pick the president and advocates of a popular vote of qualified citizens, according to the National Archives.
The compromise has meant that winning the popular vote doesn’t guarantee getting enough electoral votes to take the presidency.
That’s happened five times, including twice in recent times.
In 2000, Republican George W. Bush captured 47.87% of the popular vote, but ended up with 271 electoral votes. His opponent, Democrat Al Gore, then the sitting vice president, won 51.20% of the vote but secured only 266 electoral votes. (One D.C. elector abstained.)
Figuring highly in the 2000 outcome were Florida’s 25 electoral votes. Popular results showed a mere 537 votes out of some 5.8 million cast separated Bush and Gore, triggering a recount. But some punch cards with votes were hard to read because voting machines didn’t properly perforate votes. The so-called “hanging chads” made it difficult to get an accurate recount.
Ultimately, on Dec. 12, 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in and gave Florida’s electoral votes to Bush.
In 2016, Trump captured 304 electoral votes versus Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 227. Clinton won 48% of the popular vote while Trump tallied 45.9%. (Five electors voted for someone other than Trump or Clinton.)
Under Pennsylvania law, each presidential candidate must submit a list of certified members for the Electoral College within 30 days of being officially nominated.
Trump taps ‘alternate’ elector Bill Bachenberg as Republican Electoral College member
On Election Day, voters technically vote for Electoral College members, not the candidate. The candidate who wins in most states gets all of their Electoral College votes.
Electoral College members meet after the presidential vote has been certified by the state.
That happened in Pennsylvania on Dec. 10 with Trump receiving 3,543,308 or 50.4% of votes, and Democrat Kamala Harris, the sitting vice president, posting 3,423,042 or 48.7% of the votes.
Libertarian Party candidates Chase Oliver and Mike ter Maat received 33,318 votes while Green Party candidates Jill Stein and Rudolph Ware had 34,538 votes.
Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives will meet on Jan. 6 to count and certify the presidential election.
In 2020, as protesters gathered at the Capitol at Trump’s urging, some rioters breached barricades and entered the building in an attempt to stop the process. The melee resulted in vandalism, injuries and deaths. Once they were cleared out, Congress certified the election in Biden’s favor.
As a precaution, the Capitol and surrounding area will be heavily secured to prevent any problems that could interfer with the certification.
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