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Washington electors don't want to repeat 'mistakes' of 2016 election

Twelve Washington electors are expected to go to the capital to formally vote for Biden. In 2016, there were "faithless electors" who didn't vote for Clinton.

SEATTLE — Washington's electoral votes are supposed to go to President-elect Biden, and electors will go to Olympia on Dec. 14 to officially cast their votes in the Electoral College.  

Twelve people from around the state are expected to go to the capital to formally vote for Biden.

Four years ago, some of Washington's electors didn't vote for Hillary Clinton. They’re called “faithless electors” and it led to a court case that went all the way to the US Supreme Court.

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In June, the Supreme Court ruled on "faithless electors," and determined that electors who officially cast state's electoral college votes in December are bound by the state laws that dictate how those votes are allocated. 

KING 5 reached out to several of Washington’s electors and at least two admit what happened four years ago made them determined to see it done differently this time.  

“The fact that we had several faithless electors last time did put a bit of a spur into it,” elector Bryan Kesterson explained. 

Kesterson said he doesn't like the electoral college system and would like to see a popular vote pick the president but as long as this is the way, he wants to make sure it's done right.

“Last election because we had a lot of divisions within the party and a lot of hard feelings and a lot of issues this year there is none of that,” he explained.  

Kesterson said he believes the voting in Olympia should be pretty basic.

"We get a ballot, we fill it in and we hand it in. It's pretty straightforward,” he explained.

Kesterson and fellow elector Jack Arends both said their votes would be for Biden.  

“I don't think any of us go to the ballot box thinking it's an advisory vote. I think this is a binding vote that we expect to impact how the president is chosen,” Kesterson said.

   

 

 

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