2020 Meeting of the Arkansas Electoral College
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Speaker 1
0:00
Well, good morning. I think it's close enough to 10 o'clock. Good morning. I'm John Thurston, Arkansas Secretary of State. This meeting is of the presidential electors. It's hereby called to order. We'd like to start with a prayer led by
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Doyle Webb, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand.
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Gracious God, as we come to you this morning, we act under the United States Constitution, inspired by men of your Holy Spirit. Father, be with us this morning as we execute the duties bestowed upon us by the people of Arkansas and the Republican Party. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
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United States of America
I want to welcome you and thank you for your service. It is an honor and a privilege for me
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to be able to conduct the Electoral College today. Hope
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you enjoy your time here at the Capitol during the Christmas season. The proceedings are available live stream, and the link to the recording will be available
on the Secretary of State's website, sos.arkansas.gov. The first order of business is to call the roll of electors. When I call your name, please answer present. Doyle Webb. Present. Iverson Jackson. Present. Sharon Brooks. Rod Sobers. Ed Bethune. J.D. McGee.
Let the record reflect that four out of the six electors are present. The next order of business is to elect a chairman for the Electoral College. Is there a nomination? There's a nomination on the floor for Doyle Webb to be chairman. Is there a second? All in favor, say aye. The Honorable Doyle Webb will serve as chairman of the Electoral College.
Mr. Chairman. I would appoint an electoral college secretary, Sir Joe Reynolds, and Sir John Hathaway. Okay. The next order of business is the oath of office for the electors who are present. I would like to recognize Justice Rhonda Wood of the Arkansas Supreme Court.
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The next order of business is to appoint an elector to fulfill the vacancy of Ed Bethune.
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Do we have a motion? Okay. We are filling Ed Bethune first,
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and then we'll do JD's. Okay. We have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor, say aye. Aye. The next order of business is to appoint an elector to fulfill the vacancy of J.D. McGee.
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Do I have a motion? Okay, we have a motion. Do
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we have a second? All in favor, say aye. Thank you.
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The first document I signed says that we signed says, we the undersigned
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duly elected and qualified presidential electors for the state of Arkansas for the year 2020, hereby certify that we have appointed Mr. George Ritter to fill the elector position currently vacant in the absence of Mr. Ed Bethune, signed by each of the four electors. The second document, we the undersigned, duly elected
and qualified presidential electors for the state of Arkansas for the year 2020, hereby certify that we have appointed Mr. Joseph Wood to fill the elector position currently vacant in the absence of Mr. J.D. McGee, signed by all four of the original electors. Thank you. We'll now have the roll call vote for President of the United States. When your name is called, please answer by
stating the full name of the candidate Donald J Trump Donald J Trump Donald J.
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Trump. Rob Sobers. Donald J. Trump. Jordan
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Breyer. Donald J. Trump. Joseph Wood. Donald J. Trump.
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All six electors have voted for Donald J. Trump.
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Mr. Secretary, the vote is six Arkansas electors for Donald J. Trump.
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We will now have the roll call for Vice President of the United States. When your name is called, please answer by stating
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Secretary, Mr. Chairman, all six electors voted
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for by the President, Michael R. Pence.
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Arkansas has cast its six electoral votes for Vice President Michael R. Pence. Now, as electors, in the file folder in front of you, you need to go through and sign each of the certificate of vote that you have cast.
You'll notice the first sheet is for Donald J. Trump, the second sheet is for Michael are pants and they're paper clipped together so there is a sufficient number
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of certificates in each file folder. Thank you.
Thank you.
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Thank you.
Speaker 60
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While the other electors are signing, I want to say thank you to Justice Rhonda Wood for her service here today. And I also want to say a particular thank you to Secretary of State John Thurston and his very able staff for putting this together in a very professional and historic matter. I would have preferred a powdered wig and a quill, but it might take us a while re-inking that quill,
and they're not easily found at Office Depot anymore, so we appreciate that. Y'all are, this is a very historic time, and you can document where you were on this day in 2020 with your kids and grandkids years from now. It's a very serious moment, and I want to thank each of you for being here.
We're not quite completed yet, so don't leave. I think our new chairman of the Republican Party is
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here, John L. Fulmer. Let's give her a round of
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do y'all tally them for me?
I went to Arkansas Public Schools. I'm not sure I can calculate this high. Okay, okay,
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okay. Yes, okay. Linda, you pick these up or pick them up in a minute. Okay, thank you.
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We are signing now the certificate of vote for President of the United States, and it's a tally sheet in which each of the six electors sign.
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This is the tally sheet for the certificate of vote for Vice President of the United States.
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While they sign, for those of you who don't know, in Arkansas, each political party, the majority and the minority political party, select six electors, people of strong faith and support
of their political party, and then the candidate that carries the state, those six electors appear on this day to cast Arkansas's six electoral votes. Our six electors and the two alternates were selected at our state committee meeting back in July earlier this year, and it was a unanimous vote of the state committee gathered
when it elected delegates that selected these very honorable people who are serving today. let's give them a round of applause I want to comment I see JD McGee in the audience and JD McGee was elected to serve but originally we he had sought an opinion which allowed him to serve but since that time another opinion was
received, which since he is a public servant working for Congressman Bruce Westerman, it raised the question whether he is qualified to serve under the Constitution. He certainly would have been honored to serve and we would have been honored to have him serve, but in an abundance of caution he stepped aside and let
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his alternate serve. Let's give J.D. a round of applause.
Speaker 60
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Since I have y'all captured, I have to share a little historical information. The bench that we're sitting at and the room we're in was the original Supreme Court chamber for the state of Arkansas. At one time, pretty much all of government was contained in this building, and we seemed to let it get loose and it got out of the building
and now it's scattered all over Little Rock and all over the state. But the interesting thing about this bench is you might notice that it is added on at either end of the bench, at this point on my end and at the point on the other end. And at one time we had five justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court when this was built and we added two justices so in a good conservative posture they just didn't tear it out they added on to it they scabbed for their bench on it and also you'll notice the seal on the front
of the bench does not say the great state the seal the great seal of the state of Arkansas I believe it has different language at that time as well I spent a lot of time in here in the Senate because this is where Senate state agencies meets and if you will recall at one time this was Razorback red in here, Razorback red carpet, Razorback red drapes and the State and Secretary of State's office has done a great job of
restoring this room to its original coloring particularly as we look at the beaming up above and the emblems, the carpet was actually loomed on the looms that made the original carpet for this room. So I have to applaud those who led that way that they sought perfection in historic preservation. So
you're sitting in a room that's also a duplicate if you'll think to the governor's conference room and even suggest that there's two mantles like in the governor's conference room has two fireplaces at that time that used to be I believe the library for the secretary for the Supreme Court but the door a doors seem very similar to what's down the governor's conference room so since I had you captured and the ushers will pass an offering plate to collect your
offer and the if the congregation will sing just as I am will will do great so appreciate all y'all being here today looks like we're we have completed our work. By my tally, Donald J. Trump received six electoral
Speaker 87
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votes from the great state of Arkansas and Michael R. Pence received six electoral votes
from the great state of Arkansas. If
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we have we have a moment I would like to to pass the
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gauntlet down and any of the electors that would wish to make some brief comments you are welcome to do so. Just turn on your
Speaker 79
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mic, okay? Sharon Brooks, I am so very honored to be part of this process in history.
It's definitely history for me and my family and to be a part of this. I want to thank everyone for being here, and I'm just honored and elated to vote from our president, Donald J. Trump, and our vice president, Mike Pence, and I want to say, God bless America. Thank you.
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Iverson Jackson and keep in mind that Mr. Webb, Chairman Webb Wanted to pass the plate. I'm a pastor so that made me a little bit excited Also, you know, he's passing the plate But you know as we look on this day, it is very historic day and we are so thankful and honored to be here today in this setting, you know as I did, as most of you probably wondered, who is that electoral college? Who are those people and how do they get there? And, you know, history has a way of catching up with us. So I think it
says a lot for the great state of Arkansas that you see what you see on this platform. We are honored. I think we are leading the nation because we are a great state that honors God and his word and all people. So again, I'm honored to be here and thank God for Arkansas, for our
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president, and for our vice president. I, Rod Silvers, a retired historian and archivist, am deeply honored
to be part of this historic proceeding. And being an elected nerd, as a lot of people refer to me, I study elections and the the electoral and the governmental process both nationwide as well as in the state of Arkansas. I was deeply honored when I was selected as an elector for the first congressional district and and it'll be
a memory that I will carry with me for the rest of my
Speaker 106
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days. Thank you. I am George Ritter, and I am, as the other electors, very deeply honored to be a part of this process and to be able to cast a vote for Michael Pence and Donald Trump. Thank you. and I'm Joseph Wood and again
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JD thank you very much don't know who came up with the opinion but
I'm glad that they know I've been the alternate a few times and so this time I actually became the actual elector so it is a privilege I used to work as Chairman Webb said we could do a lot of support and gratitude to Judge Wood thank you very much I remember several years ago when you were just coming on and we were in here getting you sworn in and so into the Secretary of State John Thurston you and your team fantastic as chairman Webb was kind of talking about the Supreme Court original here and I started thinking about the the etchings on the up there and and if you look you see the scales
of justice and you got the dolphins up there speaking of education and making sure we have swift swift and smart justice for all here and in Arkansas so a lot to this room and so again it's good for me to come back as a former secretary of state member coming back in here so but this historical day will go down in history obviously for our country and as chairman Iverson talked about going to this electoral college and in January Congress will take all these and and solidify the votes for our country I too am privileged to take part
in this process and i want to thank my wife where she is miss june thank you uh and for my family i i again we we can't overlook the uh shoulders that we stand on we were talking with the historian earlier today and we're talking about frederick douglas and abraham lincoln the beginning of the republican party and where we have come and so it's so it is a tremendous day and we all stand here because of what has gone on before us so again thank you all merry christmas to you all god God bless you all. I have to close this with something maybe humorous.
Speaker 60
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You never know when my communications person back there is saying, oh, Lord, what's he going to say now? You know, I had the privilege of teaching American national government as an adjunct professor. And one of my favorite questions at this time of year would be, who is the mascot or what is the mascot for the Electoral College? And you'd be amazed that some people thought it was the giraffe, some people thought it was the hippopotamus or the dog or the hogs,
but there's, of course, no mascot for the Electoral College. It's just a name. It's not an educational facility. So once again, thank you all for your comments. what a great group of individuals that we believe serves the state well I too better recognize my wife who will move to the Supreme Court on January 1 and we are honored we are honored to have her and maybe this will keep me out of
contempt for a while and we wish each of you a Merry Christmas as well what do we need to
Speaker 11
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do now all right well everything seems to be in order I want
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to thank you all for being here and participating is there any other business today
we have concluded our business today I want to thank you all for fulfilling your duties. If there is no other business, the Electoral College of 2020 will stand adjourned.
Agenda
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