(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah’s six Republican presidential electors cast their vote for current President Donald Trump at the Utah State Capitol, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, including former Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes, left, and former Congresswoman Mia Love, filling in as an alternate for Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes who was in quarantine due to the coronavirus.
Utah cast its six electoral votes for President Donald Trump at noon Monday, one of the last steps toward finalizing the 2020 presidential election.
Normally, the constitutionally mandated Electoral College vote is a ho-hum affair and passes with little attention. This year, Trump and his supporters have been working overtime to challenge the results of the election in an attempt to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Those efforts have been largely fruitless. Trump’s claims of voter fraud have been thrown out of dozens of courts for lack of evidence. But the president’s fight has brought renewed interest in Monday’s Electoral College vote.
Here’s how the process works: Utah’s official ballots will be sent to Washington, D.C., where they will be counted during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. That will clear the way for Biden, the former vice president, to be inaugurated on Jan. 20.
Reyes was replaced by former Utah Rep. Mia Love, who got the highest number of votes among the alternates selected at the Utah GOP convention in April.
The other electors on Monday included two former candidates for Congress — Chris Herrod, who was a candidate in Utah’s 3rd Congressional District in 2017 and 2018, and Trent Christensen, who unsuccessfully ran for the GOP nomination in the 4th District this year.
“I wish more people fully understood this process. It goes to the greatness of our country,” said Christensen. “It’s a purely constitutional duty, and not many people have a constitutional duty they get to fulfill.” Christensen says he’s a little disappointed that his ballot will go for Trump, who ultimately will not win the election. But that does not dampen his enthusiasm for being a part of the process.
“The Electoral College is what allows Utah to have a voice,” he said. “Because of this process, Utah gets to be important. If not for the Electoral College, we’d probably be overlooked.”
“Our Electoral College holds itself out as the only way 50 states can have skin in the game,” said former Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes, who also cast a ballot for Trump on Monday.
Washington County GOP Chairman Jimi Keston and former Box Elder County Commission candidate Kris Udy were the other electors casting ballots Monday.
Not everybody is a fan of the Electoral College process, as both Trump and former President George W. Bush won the presidency while not winning the popular vote.
“I think there’s a real dissatisfaction for the way the presidential election works itself out every year,” says Kitchen. “This is the one elected office that represents all of America, and we need to find a way so the process more genuinely reflects the broader population.”
Salt Lake County Councilman Richard Snelgrove has twice been an elector for Utah. In 2016, he cast a ballot for Trump and in 2008 he voted for Republican John McCain.
“It’s an incredible honor because you’re one of 535 people in the country who take part in that process,” said Snelgrove, who, as an elector, attended the inauguration of Barack Obama in 2008. He was invited to Trump’s inauguration in 2016 but did not attend.
“There were some very good seats for the electors,” laughed Snelgrove. “People kept asking the person I was sitting next to for pictures and autographs. I later learned it was (Spider-Man actor) Tobey Maguire. [Former NBA superstar] Magic Johnson was a few rows behind me.
“It was an honor to see our Constitution at work,” Snelgrove said.
Snelgrove says there was a concerted effort in 2016 to pressure Republican electors across the country to not cast their ballots for Trump.
“We were getting emails, phone calls and regular mail urging us to vote for someone else,” he said.
