NM Electoral College Republicans send votes for Trump, Pence to Congress

On Monday, the Republican Party of New Mexico (RPNM) announced it had requested the Republican electors from New Mexico who pledged to vote for President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in the Electoral College, convene and cast their ballots. The electors sent their votes to Congress, and their votes are to be opened on January 6, 2020. 

In a press release, RPNM wrote: 

Of course, there is precedent for our Republican Electors meeting on December 14, even as the Democrat Electors for New Mexico also meet.

Democrat Electors pledged to John F. Kennedy convened in Hawaii in 1960, at the same time as Republicans, even though the Governor had certified Richard Nixon as the winner. In the end, Hawaii’s electoral votes were awarded to President Kennedy, even though he did not win the state until 11 days after his Electors cast their votes.

The legitimacy and good sense of two sets of Electors meeting on December 14 to cast competing votes for President and Vice President, with the conflict to be later sorted out by the courts and Congress, was pointed out by prominent Democrat lawyers, Van Jones and Larry Lessig, in an essay published last month on CNN.com.

To the extent that the results in New Mexico might remain in doubt, just as the Democrat Electors met in Hawaii in 1960 while awaiting a final resolution of that State’s vote, so too the Republican Electors met this year on December 14 as we await a final resolution of New Mexico’s five electoral votes.

The Democrat electors met in Santa Fe at the Roundhouse to cast their ballots for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. In other states where election fraud lawsuits are pending, such as in Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, Republican electors also voted for President Trump and Vice President Pence and sent their votes to Congress.

Earlier Monday, President Trump filed a lawsuit in New Mexico regarding absentee ballots drop boxes allegedly used unconstitutionally.