Orange County GOP Chair Erin Huntley shares what it’s like to be one of Florida’s 30 state electors.
Election-wise, voters did their jobs last month, mailing in ballots or going to the polls on or before Nov. 5 to make their choice in the presidential election.
But before President-Elect Donald J. Trump can be sworn-in for the second time on Jan. 20, having secured the presidency with 312 electoral votes and 49.9 percent of the popular vote, another series of votes had to occur. Of course, we’re talking about the Electoral College.
More of a process than a place — the Electoral College convenes in state capitols around the country on the first Monday after the second Wednesday following a presidential election — got that? — for state electors to officially elect the president and vice president.
This year, that Monday fell on Dec. 17. And Erin Huntley, 44, chair of the Orange County GOP, was there in Tallahassee — the only elector from Orange County.
Electors are chosen by political parties and approved by the governors of each state. Florida currently has 30 state electors — one for each representative and senator in Congress.
Huntley talked with VoxPopuli about participating in the electoral process and what comes next before the inauguration.
“It's just an honor to be a part of just the whole process,” said the Windermere-based human resource strategist. “It's interesting to reflect back on the fact that this system was designed 250 years ago, and it's still standing the test of time.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
VoxPopuli: How do political parties go about selecting the individuals who will serve as electors? What criteria or considerations factor into those decisions?
Erin Huntley: You have to be a registered elector, meaning a registered voter in the state, and then obviously you would want to be part of the party that you want [to win]. If Kamala Harris won, then the Democrat electors would go to Tallahassee and cast their votes. But since Donald Trump won the state of Florida, the 30 Republicans cast their votes to reflect the majority of the Florida voters.
Electors can’t be federal elected officials, so it couldn’t be Sen. Rick Scott or Congressman Corey Mills. It has to be at the state level. There are a couple state representatives, the state senator, party leaders, members of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ cabinet who were selected to be electors this time.
There's a deadline in August where they have to submit the slate of electors to the governor for his approval, and then he sends it to the Secretary of State. It's way before we know who will win. [You can find Republican and Democratic elector slates here.]
VoxPopuli: How does this process play out in other states?
Erin Huntley: What we did on Dec. 17 in Tallahassee, happen all over the country on the same day. Each state would submit their votes based on what their state says. We [the State of Florida] were for Trump, so we voted for him and sent those electoral votes [to the U.S. Capitol]. States, like California and New York, that had a majority for the Democratic ticket would vote their way and those votes would then go out [to the Capitol].
VoxPopuli: Take me back to when you were first selected as an elector. What was that experience like?
Erin Huntley: Back in August, I received a phone call from the state party chairman, Evan Power, saying I was selected to be one of the 30 electors and asking if I would like to do that. I was just so surprised and very excited, so I said, Of course.
A lot of us [party members] are working so hard all the time. Sometimes you just get surprised and have a moment of gratitude for being selected. I never expected it, and I'm just so glad that I was able to serve in this way. When I signed my name, it was really in honor of all of the volunteers and supporters who worked so hard over the last election cycle to elect different Republicans up and down the ticket. So I did it in honor of them.
VoxPopuli: Let’s talk about your time at the state capitol on Dec. 17. What happened leading up to casting your votes?
Erin Huntley: It was very secure, there was police presence everywhere. There's really no one in the capitol, like around the grounds. It’s very quiet as there’s not a lot going on this time of year in Tallahassee. There was even [security] on the roof of the capitol building because there have been more contentious elections or people that oppose the will of the people in the past, so they just wanted to make sure people were secure.
VoxPopuli: Once you all made it to the capitol for the actual signing, what was the process like then?
Erin Huntley: We were walked into the Senate chambers at 2 p.m. and we were each put at our own seats. Once they confirmed all 30 of us, they handed out the ballot.
I wrote [Donald Trump’s] name, signed my name, and then they took back all the ballots and counted that all 30 were for Donald Trump. Then they did vice president next. We all wrote JD Vance, they collected them and there were 30 for JD Vance. The Secretary of State announced that all 30 votes were for Donald Trump and JD Vance, then at that point, one by one, each of us were called up to the front of the room to sign the six certificates of the Electoral College. Two were sent to Congress, two were sent to the National Archives, and I think two were sent to the judge that presides over the courts in that area.
They put the certificates in the envelopes, and we had to do it again, because they put a seal on the outside of the envelope that we all had to sign. So then they called us one by one up again to sign and seal the results there. We had to sign our names multiple times, but it completed the process.
VoxPopuli: Could an elector vote against the candidate chosen by their political party?
Erin Huntley: By Florida statute, if you are a Republican or Democrat elector you are bound to vote for the party’s choice.
So the first ballot was the ballot for the President of the United States, and we had to print Donald J. Trump and then sign and print our names. And they actually didn’t say you have to pick Trump, they just said cast your ballot for the President of the United States, but we all knew who we had to.
[Editor’s Note: As part of Trump and his allies’ scheme to claim the 2020 election was stolen, 84 fake electors in seven states falsely signed electoral certificates stating that Trump won Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Wisconsin. Those in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Michigan were charged with crimes. Several, in Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and Wisconsin, served again as electors for the 2024 presidential election.]
VoxPopuli: Do electors get to vote on Election Day?
Erin Huntley: We, as our constitutional right to vote, vote as individuals … so our vote only counts once.
Voxpopuli: How did you feel walking into the Senate chambers that day?
Erin Huntley: I was just really proud of being able to represent our area of Florida and be part of the process. And entering the chamber and then looking up into the gallery where my husband was, and we had some guests with us as well, it was just so great to see them. A lot of times when people are involved in politics, there's a lot of people behind the scenes that support you that may not get to experience some of the things that you get to experience, so I was so happy that my husband was able to be there.
VoxPopuli: What happens after the electors cast their votes? Do they have other responsibilities?
Erin Huntley: That is where our role ends, but then those [votes] are all transported up to the U.S. Capitol for the next step, for Jan. 6. What happens on that day is … the proceedings to certify the vote. Once the vote is certified, then the president is inaugurated on January 20.
[Editor’s Note: The votes from all of the states’ electors are counted on Jan. 6 in a joint session of Congress, overseen by the vice president. It was this electoral vote count that insurrectionists, spurred by Trump’s false claims of a stolen election, tried unsuccessfully to stop on Jan. 6 in 2021. The Capitol Riot resulted in five deaths, including law enforcement officers. Trump has said he would pardon his supporters who attacked the Capitol on his first day in office.]
Voxpopuli: What’s one moment from this experience you will remember for the rest of your life?
Erin Huntley: Besides the day of signing, I would say staying at the Governors Inn, which is where we stayed as electors. That’s a private hotel that the governor uses for different activities or different visitors who come to town. It’s an older hotel, it's very beautifully renovated, and each room is named after a different governor, which I thought that was really neat.
VoxPopuli: Was there anything that happened during this process you weren’t expecting?
Erin Huntley: I knew we would be signing papers, but they gave us a commemorative pen that was made by the state party. That was a special pen, so we were all signing with the same pen for all of the two votes. That was a really nice surprise to take that pen home that says, "Presidential Elector 2024.”
VoxPopuli: Based on your experiences, what about the Electoral College process do you feel is important for readers to understand?
Erin Huntley: People hear about the Electoral College and how many votes it takes to become President of the United States. But this step often gets a little bit overlooked just because it's procedural. But the Founding Fathers had it in mind to make sure that there was a way for some of the smaller, less populous states to still have a voice in the national elections.
It's a formality and is part of our government, but it's also part of history. It brings everything together. What you may have learned in civics in school and then hear about with the election going on, it all brings it together to formalize the process for selecting the executive of our country. I mean, it's a process. So it may not be as glamorous as some others, but I think it was.
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