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Arkansas’ Electors Cast 6 Votes for Trump, Pence

2 min read

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas’ members of the Electoral College cast the state’s six votes for Republican Donald Trump on Monday, triggering a brief shouting match in the state Capitol’s old Supreme Court chamber before the secretary of state threatened to clear the room.

Three dozen people opposed to a Trump presidency took most of the public seating inside the century-old chamber, and most of them held signs declaring “Not My President,” ”No Trump” or “Send It To The House,” a reference to Congress’ lower chamber selecting a president if no candidate received the 270 electoral votes necessary to claim the White House.

Trump defeated a former Arkansas first lady, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, in balloting Nov. 8. Arkansas’ GOP electors said thousands of people had asked them to withdraw their support for the president-elect.

“Many of the letter-writers asked me to follow my conscience. I plan to do so now,” elector John Nabholz of Conway said. “I am voting for someone who can change the politics as usual.”

Arkansas’ electors met with protesters ahead of their vote.

“They believe very strongly in what they’re doing, just as strongly as I believe in what I’m doing, and that’s the American process,” said elector Sharon Wright of Hope – President Bill Clinton’s hometown. She said Arkansas would lose all influence without a voting system based on state populations.

“The majority of the mail I received came from New York and California,” she said. “We in middle America need to still have a voice and we wouldn’t have one without the Electoral College.”

The electors’ vote drew just a smattering of applause.

“He’s a fascist,” a protester shouted from one corner of the room.

“He’s our president,” a Trump supporter shouted back, prompting Secretary of State Mark Martin’s threat to send everyone out.

The next outburst drew the attention of Capitol police, who escorted a woman away from the back row.

Along the courtroom banister, Juniper Helms of Bryant carried a sign that read “Trump is a threat to America.” She said that, as a transgender woman, she feared anti-LGBT rhetoric heard during the campaign would spill over into national policies.

“It was disappointing but not surprising,” she said after the delegates voted.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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