COLUMBUS – As the cries of hundreds of protesters could be heard outside the Senate chamber, Ohio’s 18 Electoral College members voted Monday to support Republican Donald Trump for president.
Ohio’s Electoral College voted Monday at the Statehouse, formalizing Trump’s general election victory in the battleground state last month.
The protesters demonstrated to push for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Clinton won the popular vote nationally, but secured just 43 percent of the vote in Ohio compared to Trump’s 51 percent.
An Ohio state law bound electors to vote for the nominee of the party that appointed them, which this year was the Republicans.
Gov. John Kasich, a former Trump rival, was pulled into Monday’s process to help oversee replacement of an elector who had resigned. He urged unity.
The names of members of the Electoral College are submitted by their political party or nominating committee and are elected when their political party or nominating committee’s chosen candidate receives a majority of the state’s popular vote. Today’s electors were chosen ahead of the 2016 Presidential Election by the Ohio Republican Party.