Washington Electors Cast Votes For Joe Biden And Kamala Harris

OLYMPIA, WA — Washington completed its final duty for the 2020 Presidential Election, as 12 electors gathered in the state capitol Monday and cast their votes for the Electoral College.

Recently re-elected Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman began the voting process Monday with a speech to the electors, thanking them for their service, and celebrating the end of a long and contentions election cycle.

"You will faithfully execute your duties in accordance to the law of the land and the will of the people, and in doing so, bring the 2020 General Election to a close," said Wyman, who followed the remark with a stifled "thank God."

President-elect Joe Biden sailed to victory in Washington state, earning nearly 58 percent of the vote. Because of Biden's clear victory, the Trump administration has not filed any suits targeting Washington, instead focusing on the results of battleground states like Georgia and Arizona. However, election results have been challenged by gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp, who alleges widespread voter fraud cost him the election.

While the Secretary of State did not address Culp or the president directly, she did touch on the controversy, reiterating that Washington's election was secure and fair.

"The ceremony and tradition of this meeting, mark an end to one of the most contentious elections of our time and symbolize the foundation of our constitutional republic," Wyman said.

Gov. Jay Inslee expanded on the issue during his remarks, congratulating the electors while decrying recent attempts to overturn the presidential election.

"There has been an unprecedented attack on the very foundations of democracy in our nation recently and you are standing against that," Inslee said. "The fact is we had a free and fair election this year, in spite of the challenges of the pandemic, and the people's voices were heard and counted loud and clear up and down the ballot. Unfortunately that wasn't good enough for some folks, who are out there pedaling totally unfounded conspiracy theories, which have called into question the legitimacy of this election."

Following Inslee's statement, Wyman introduced all 12 of Washington's electors, who unanimously cast their votes for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the next President and Vice President.

It was a significantly less dramatic vote than last time around. During the 2016 election, three of Washington's electors refused to vote for Hillary Clinton, despite the fact that she won the state's popular vote. Since then, Washington has passed a law requiring those "faithless electors" to follow the popular vote.

Following the vote, some chose to give testimony. One notable speech came from elector Jack Arends, a terminally-ill man who said he was proud to do one last duty for his country.

"To begin the end of the Trump administration, I was glad to do my duty, and rid our nation of a petty dictator" Arends said in an impassioned speech. "Had he won a second term, there is no limit to the damage he could have done to the world."

Others simply noted that, hopefully, the next presidential election will be less dramatic.

"Hopefully, in four years the Electoral College will go back to being a little more boring like it usually is," said Bryan Kesterson, another elector. Kesterson's remark was met with scattered applause and an "amen" from Wyman.

Now that the votes have been lodged, the results are being sent to Congress as they ready the next steps in the inauguration process.