Michigan Casts 16 Electoral College Votes for President-Elect Biden
Despite dangerous rhetoric and heightened security, the routine democratic process of casting electoral votes went ahead with little incident.
On Monday, Michigan electors cast all sixteen of their Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden. The once-procedural and routine affair attracted public attention after Rep. Gary Eisen (R-St. Clair Township) suggested protests to block the vote may turn violent. Eisen quickly lost his committee assignments after his public comments.
“The energy inside the Senate chamber where the vote happened was definitely a nervous energy.” – Abigail Censky, WKAR.
Despite these threats of violence and a weeks-long sustained effort by President Trump and many Republicans to undermine the election results, electors were able to cast their votes without incident in the state Senate chamber.
Listen: Michigan electors cast their Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden.
Guest
Abigail Censky is a reporter with WKAR public radio in Lansing. She says there was a large State Police presence inside the senate chamber as electors were set to cast their votes.
“I was one of a few members of the press allowed inside,” says Censky. “The energy inside the Senate chamber where the vote happened was definitely a nervous energy.”
Despite the dangerous rhetoric and heightened anxiety, only a handful of protesters showed up to demonstrate outside the Capitol. The protestors’ call to block the electoral process came after weeks of President Trump denying the results of the election and undermining the democratic process.
“I think it’s steeped into the ether in a very 2020 way…same as every step of the process,” says Censky. “Republicans from the Trump administration down through the ranks have continued to try to move the goal post,” she says about demonstrators’ calls for an alternate slate of electors.
Ultimately, Censky says, there is no legal basis to the claim that a new slate of electors can be installed, nor is it clear that such a move would have the ability to change the results of the election.
Web story written by Clare Brennan.
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