South Dakota Electoral College Performs Constitutional Duty

The last hope for Democrats maintaining a presence in the White House faded on Monday with the Electoral College selecting Donald Trump as President and Mike Pence as Vice President.

South Dakota’s delegates put pen to paper to make their selection and sign off on the will of the voters in the Rushmore State. The three electoral votes were part of the grouping that put Trump over the top. Officially it was almost 4:30 PM Central Time when Texas electors pushed the number of electoral votes past the 270 required to get the nod.

Attorney General Marty Jackley, South Dakota Republican Party Chairperson Pam Roberts and Gov. Dennis Daugaard performed their duty at the Capitol Building casting South Dakota’s electoral votes for Trump and Pence.

Originally, Lt. Governor Matt Michels was selected to be an elector for the proceedings. However, a scheduling conflict prevented Michels from taking part. Roberts was then appointed by Daugaard and Jackley to replace Michels in accordance with State Law.

Democrats hoped that enough Electoral College voters would change their selection to sway the vote back to Hillary Clinton. In the end only six electoral college voters were "faithless" including two in Texas who switched their votes to Ron Paul and John Kasich and four in Washington state. Three of those switched their vote to former Secretary of State Colin Powell and one selected Faith Spotted Eagle who is an opponent of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

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