Bernie Sanders Earns Vote From Maine Elector

AUGUSTA, ME — Bernie Sanders, who beat Hillary Clinton in the Maine caucuses, on Monday earned a vote from a rogue Maine elector who attempted to defy Electoral College rules. David Bright, a Democrat from Dixmont, was obligated to vote for Clinton, who won three of Maine's four electoral votes.

Bright cast a ballot for Sanders in Augusta as the nation's electors met Monday and officially awarded 304 votes to president-elect Donald Trump. But after being Bright was told he was out of order, he recast a ballot for Clinton.

"I cast my Electoral College vote for Bernie Sanders ... to let those new voters who were inspired by him know that some of us did hear them, did listen to them, do respect them and understand their disappointment," Bright said in a statement.

Electors awarded 227 votes Hillary Clinton, who won the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes. The number needed to win the Electoral College is 270.

Clinton earned three votes in Maine, while Trump won one. Maine splits its electoral votes. Two go to the statewide winner, one goes to the First District winner, and one goes to the Second District winner. Clinton won the statewide vote and First District; Trump won the Second District.

In March's Maine caucuses, Sanders and Trump won their party's respective races.

Bright released this statement Monday:

If my vote today could have helped Secretary Clinton win the presidency, I would have voted for her. But as the Electoral College meets all across this nation on this day, I see no likelihood of 38 Republican electors defecting from their party and casting their ballots for Secretary Clinton.

So Hillary Clinton will not become President, and there is nothing I can do about that. Knowing this, I was left to find a positive statement I could make with my vote.

I am not a Clinton elector, I am a Democratic elector. I do not represent Democrats all over the country, I represent the Democrats in Maine.

I cast my vote for Bernie Sanders not out of spite, or malice, or anger, or as an act of civil disobedience. I mean no disrespect to our nominee. I cast my vote to represent thousands of Democratic Maine voters – many less than a third my age – who came into Maine politics for the first time this year because of Bernie Sanders. They organized, telephoned and sent in their 27 dollars. Many stood in line for hours in order to navigate our byzantine system of caucuses and convention this Spring so they could be among the two thirds of Maine Democrats who cast a vote for Sanders.

Most importantly, they did this to vote FOR someone they believed in, not to vote against someone they feared.

Sadly, when the primary season was over, and their candidate was not successful, many of them lost hope, as well as interest. Many felt the Democratic Party had not listened to them, did not care about them, and did not respect them. Their sense of loss in July became our Party’s loss in November.

Democracy is hard, and messy, and complicated, and those of us who have been at this game for a long time have learned to take the defeats when they come. But those lessons don’t come easily for new voters.

So I cast my Electoral College vote for Bernie Sanders today to let those new voters who were inspired by him know that some of us did hear them, did listen to them, do respect them and understand their disappointment. I want them to know that not only can they come back to the process, but that they will be welcomed back; that there is room in the Democratic Party for their values.

To go forward, the Democratic Party needs these young voters.

More importantly, America needs these young voters.

I can’t do anything to change the results of the election this year. But perhaps by encouraging these idealistic voters to stick around, I can change the results of elections to come.

Bright released another statement explaining his decision to recast his ballot for Clinton:

So here’s the story of today’s Electoral College meeting.I cast my Presidential vote for Bernie Sanders. The chair (Maine Democratic Party Treasurer Betty Johnson) on the advice of Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, ruled that the vote was out of order because I had violated my oath of office in which I swore to uphold the state statute that required me to vote for the state-wide winner of the election. Therefore, the chair ruled, another vote would be called.

I could have objected to the ruling, which would have required a vote of the four electors. Republican Rick Bennett would have abstained, leaving the three Democrats. I would have voted to overrule the chair, but that would have put Diane Denk in a tight spot. She, also, was a Bernie national delegate, but she is also Maine’s Democratic National Committeewoman. Had she supported me it would have put her in an awkward spot at the DNC, where we need progressives to be listened to, not ignored. So she would have had to vote to uphold the chair. At that point, with a one-one tie, the chair would have voted to uphold itself. I did not want to put Diane in that spot.

I could have continued to vote for Bernie, but the same procedure would have continued until finally the other members of the college would have voted to impeach me for the crime of violating my oath and the statute. Had that happened I would not have been able to give my speech explaining my actions at the end of the meeting.

But I think people got the point of what I was doing, and in an ironic sort of way others saw that the Democratic Party was still not allowing dissent within its ranks.

I considered also claiming that my vote had been cast, and it should be counted, and if the Attorney General Janet Mills wanted to prosecute me so be it. Given that Mills may be considering a run for governor, I’m guessing she would not have wanted to tick off a bunch of Berners, so she would have kicked the job down to Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney. In any event, it would have become a long dragged out thing, and not done any more to accomplish my goal, so on the second round I cast a vote for Clinton.

The story has been picked up by a number of different media around the country, so the message got out, and that was my initial goal.

Obviously no Republicans voted for Clinton, so those dreamers who thought that might happen now have to face the fact that Hillary Clinton will not be President. We have what we have. The job now is learning to deal with it.

More

• Electoral College Vote: Trump Elected President With Texas Vote, 7 Electors Defect (UPDATES)

Top photo: Phil Roeder/Flickr