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I’m Staying Faithful to Trump
I’ve been harassed by thousands over my Electoral College vote.
ENLARGEAt a campaign rally in Wichita, Kansas, March 5. Photo: Getty
Images
By
Ashley McMillan Hutchinson
Dec. 11, 2016 4:20 p.m. ET
730 COMMENTS
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/im-staying-faithful-to-trump-1481491214#livefyre-comment>
This summer, the chairman of the Kansas Republican Party asked me to be
one of the six electors who represent the state of Kansas in the
Electoral College. I completely geeked out. Of the more than 137 million
Americans who voted for president this year, only 538 are electors.
While I jumped at the chance, I was not prepared for what would happen next.
I always knew Donald Trump would win Kansas, but like most people who
follow politics closely, I didn’t expect him to win the Electoral
College. I figured that Kansas would let me cast my vote for the
also-ran—still a great honor. Then the unthinkable happened.
Election Night left me in awe. There were many reasons to be pleased.
Those blue-collar, fly-over, working-class voters who showed up in
droves and put Mr. Trump over the edge in several swing states? Those
are my people. They weren’t motivated by hate or race. They were
disappointed in the current administration and lack of economic
progress. The assumptions about this group of voters by the media and
ivory-tower elite only motivated them to victory.
I was excited because I was an Electoral College member and I was
casting my vote for the winner in a historic election. Then things got a
little strange.
It started with a couple of emails three days after the election. Since
Hillary Clinton had won the popular vote, former electors warned me that
I would probably receive hundreds of emails urging me to change my vote
to prevent Mr. Trump from getting to the White House. I answered the
first few back and had some polite—and some not-so-polite—exchanges with
folks urging me to vote for Mrs. Clinton. Grassroots groups such as Ask
the Electors had found my work email and spread it to their email lists.
They also published my work address, home address, cell phone and work
phone.
I had intended on answering everyone who emailed me. Then the flood
started. At its peak, I was receiving 500 emails an hour. At least 20
letters arrived at my office daily, and the calls came in 24 hours a day.
The majority of the notes called for the elimination of the Electoral
College because it was undemocratic. As an elector, I can’t do anything
about this, but I still don’t buy the argument. There are many
provisions in our constitutional republic that allow for a departure
from direct democracy. The Electoral College ensures that Americans from
throughout the country can be represented.
Others told me to act as a faithless elector and vote my conscience to
stop Mr. Trump from taking the presidency. Only 157 electors in history
have broken their pledge and voted for an alternate candidate or
abstained from voting, according to FairVote. There is a reason this
tactic has never been successful: It assumes the worst of Americans.
These letter writers are asking me to disavow my own people, because
they are supposedly racist and easily fooled. I don’t buy it. I won’t
violate the will of the people of Kansas simply because coastal elites
think Mr. Trump tweets too much.
I noticed another theme in the thousands of missives I’ve received. They
don’t seek to understand or persuade—only to insist. Most of these
people want it their way and they want it now. As a mother of two small
children, I know how to handle that.
/Ms. McMillan Hutchinson is the vice chairwoman of the Kansas Republican
Party./
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