By Robert Laurie ——Bio and Archives--November 7, 2016
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One of Washington state’s Democratic presidential electors is vowing not to cast his Electoral College vote for Hillary Clinton — even if she wins the state handily on Election Day. “No, no, no on Hillary. Absolutely not. No way,” said Robert Satiacum, a member of Washington’s Puyallup Tribe who had supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders as the Democratic presidential nominee. He had earlier told various media outlets he was wrestling with whether his conscience would allow him to support Clinton and was considering stepping aside for an alternate elector. But on Friday, he sounded firm, even if the election is close. “I hope it comes down to a swing vote and it’s me,” he said. “Good. She ain’t getting it. Maybe it’ll wake this country up.”
Bret Chiafalo, a Democratic elector from Everett who is also a Sanders supporter, said he is considering exercising his right to be a “conscientious elector” and vote for the person he believes would be the best president. “I have no specific plans, but I have not ruled out that possibility,” he said.Washington state imposes a thousand dollar fine for electors who exercise their right to buck the will of the voters. Satiacum says he's fine with that, and claims there are "a few" Democrat electors willing to follow his lead. As he puts it “We are looking down off the cliff. As humanity we are there. We cannot go four more years with either of these idiots." Now, don't get too excited. These are, after all, Democrats. They talk a good game about integrity, honor, and conscience, but they usually end up toeing the company line. Factor in the absolutely immense (probably lethal) pressure they'll face if this election came down to one or two electoral college votes, and you can bet they'll collapse like Hillary on a 65 degree afternoon. Still, there is the ever-so-slight possibility that Hillary's magic number is no longer 270. We'll see how these electors feel after the DNC has "a discussion" with them.
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