New Jersey’s presidential electors allot votes to Clinton

TRENTON -- New Jersey's 14 electors formally selected Democrat Hillary Clinton for president on Monday.

The Electoral College delegation met in Trenton to allot all the state's electoral votes to Clinton and her running mate, Virginia U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine. Clinton won the state on Election Day over Republican Donald Trump.

Trump won more than the necessary 270 electoral votes in November, but some groups across the country were trying to prevent him from taking office by asking electors not to vote for him. That hasn't been an issue in New Jersey, which is solidly Democratic.

Elector Lizette Delgado-Polanco, who served as president of the New Jersey college, said the electors requested information from the director of national intelligence about the possible tampering by foreign governments into the November election but the college's attorney received no reply.

The CIA's assessment is that Russia engaged in computer hacking to sway the election in favor of Trump. Russia has denied that.

Delgado-Polanco acknowledged that since New Jersey's voters went with Clinton, foreign tampering with the election would not have made a difference in the state.

"No, it wouldn't have mattered, but it would have mattered in the rest of the country," she said after the balloting.

A group of at least 50 people gathered in the cold on Monday on the statehouse steps carrying signs that read "Dump Trump" and "Stop Trump."

Pat Sparano, a retired social services worker from Collingswood, attended the event carrying a neon green sign that read "Electors Save Us." She said even though Trump is set to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama in January "there's always hope."

The divided response to last month's presidential election has thrust the arcane and often ceremonial institution of the Electoral College into the forefront of rough-and-tumble U.S. politics.

Some of the state's electors agree it's time to abolish the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote.

"It's an outdated system," said Delgado-Polanco, who serves as the state Democratic Party's vice chair. "The popular vote is what should count. The vote and the will of the people is what should count, not some antiquated system."

In New Jersey, the winner of the state's popular vote wins all of the state's electors, who are chosen by state party leaders.

The Democratic electors include state party officials, local office holders and the spouse of Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, Marlene Prieto.

The ceremony lasted about an hour and included the chief justice of the state Supreme Court, Stuart Rabner, who swore in the electors, and Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, whose office certified the results.

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