Presidential Electors Certify Our Votes
Youth civic engagement fellows and family members watched from the gallery as Minnesota’s electoral college votes were cast by 10 electors selected from the MN Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) party representing all eight of our Congressional districts with two at-large. All 49 states plus the District of Columbia concurrently recorded the votes of their electors on December 17, 2024.
In the chambers of the Minnesota Senate, State Elections Director Paul Linnell read the official returns for presidential candidates in Minnesota from the Certificate of Ascertainment. This had been signed by Governor Tim Walz and Secretary of State Steve Simon on Dec. 4 following the State Canvassing Board meeting.
This entire process adheres to state and federal law. Following the challenge to the Presidential election in 2020 initiated by former President Trump, Congress passed bipartisan legislation that reformed the Electoral Count Act to clarify ambiguities in the previous law about how the presidential election results get from the states to the Electoral College and then to Congress.
Moreover, as stated by Secretary Simon, our democracy rests on the peaceful transfer of power. All electors pledge and sign an oath to both the U.S. and MN Constitutions before completing a separate ballot for President and Vice President of the United States. They unanimously voted for Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Walz, because Minnesota has chosen to award all of our electoral college votes to the candidate who receives the majority of our votes.
While we support the election certification process, the League of Women Voters will continue to advocate for the abolishment of the electoral college with our One Person One Vote campaign. Moreover, Minnesota has joined 16 states and the District of Columbia in passing the National Popular Vote Compact, which guarantees the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes if enacted by states with a majority of the electoral votes (270 of 538).
