Presidential electors to meet at Capitol at noon Monday
DENVER, Dec. 18, 2016 -- Colorado's nine presidential electors are scheduled to meet at the state Capitol at noon Monday for a ceremony that will be presided over by Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams and Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne.
The electors were chosen earlier this year when the state Democratic and Republican parties held their assemblies and each picked a slate of nine. Whether nine Democrats or nine Republicans ended up in the governor's office on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December depended on who won the presidential election in the state.
Democrat Hillary Clinton took 48.16 percent of the vote in Colorado to Republican Donald J. Trump's 43.25 percent. Nationally, she won the popular vote, but he won the Electoral College vote.
The Democratic electors are: Michael Baca of Denver, Terry Phillips of Louisville, Mary Beth Corsentino of Pueblo, Jerad Sutton of Greeley, Robert Nemanich of Colorado Springs, Amy Drayer of Greenwood Village, Ann Knollman of Arvada, Sen. Rollie Heath of Boulder and former Sen. Polly Baca of Boulder.
Nemanich and Baca unsuccessfully sued in U.S. District Court in Denver to overturn a Colorado law that requires presidential electors to vote for the winning candidate, providing a national spotlight and drama on what normally is a low-key process. Rather than vote for Clinton, they want to team up with other electors nationally and vote for someone else so that Trump falls short of getting the 270 Electoral College votes he needs on Monday to officially win the presidency.
Secretary Williams opposes the effort, saying the votes of the 2.7 million Coloradans who voted for president in the Nov. 8 election "must be preserved."