Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana's eleven Republican representatives to the Electoral College will gather at the Statehouse on Monday to formally cast votes to make Donald Trump the 45th U.S. president.
Across the country, anti-Trump activists have encouraged citizen electors to reject the Republican, who won a majority of Electoral College votes during the election but lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton.
But in Indiana, home state to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, none designated as electors by Trump's November victory is expected to buck their party.
Dubois County Republican Party Chairman Don Hayes told the Jasper Herald that he has received thousands of emails, dozens of letters and some phone calls from people across the U.S., urging him to not cast his electoral vote for Trump.
"I wouldn't change my mind," he told the newspaper. "It's clear who the people support. Trump carried the state. In my county and district and in the state, people voted Donald Trump by healthy margins. So why would I even consider changing my vote?"
Indiana is a winner-take-all state, which means that when Trump defeated Clinton by more than 500,000 votes, the GOP secured all of the state's 11 Electoral College votes. The party's electors were selected this summer at the state GOP convention. Had Clinton won, as Democrats did in 2008, their party would have selected all of the state's electors.
Monday's vote will be overseen by Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson. The GOP is issuing tickets for the event, though the media will be present for the vote and the general public can watch from an observation area, Lawson spokeswoman Valerie Warycha said.
The state's GOP electors are party loyalists and some owe their current jobs to Pence. Elector Dan Bortner is the director of state parks under Pence, and Jeff Cardwell is the state GOP Party chairman.
And while state Treasurer Kelly Mitchel was elected, Pence appointed her to finish out the term of former Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who resigned.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.