Alaska’s three Electoral College voters follow the script

Rebellion is a seller at the movie theater, but it wasn’t on the minds of Alaska’s three Electoral College voters.

On Monday, all three cast votes for Republican president-elect Donald Trump in a quiet ceremony at the Andrew P. Kashevaroff State Library, Archives and Museum. The event lasted no more than 40 minutes.

Each elector signed a series of ballots for Trump and his vice president, then signed certificates affirming their decision.

“I did vote Donald Trump today, and I was honored that the people of Alaska entrusted me with the stewardship to carry those votes forward,” said Jacqueline Tupou, an elector who lives in Juneau and worked for the Mitt Romney campaign in 2008 and 2012.

In the weeks before Monday’s vote, Tupou was inundated by emails and letters asking her to reconsider her vote for Trump.

State law binds electors to the results of the state’s popular vote, and 51.28 percent of Alaska’s participating voters picked Trump in the Nov. 8 general election. The Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, received 47,000 fewer votes than Trump did.

Tupou said she “received very thoughtful responses” asking her to choose someone else, but she ultimately felt it “was important for me to honor the vote of the Alaskan people.”

Carolyn Leman, wife of former Lt. Gov. Loren Leman, said she had no doubts.

“Not at all. I’m a Republican elector from Alaska, so I came here to do my duty,” she said.

Former Gov. Sean Parnell also served as an elector. Now working in private legal practice in Anchorage, he didn’t even attend the state Republican convention where the electors were chosen.

“Honestly, I was attending a family event out of state, and I learned I had been selected as an elector,” Parnell said.

Nevertheless, he said he was an honor to participate, and he never considered someone other than Trump.

“There will always be another election,” he said. “For thousands of people to ask me to violate the laws of this state, that was just something I was not going to do. We have to be willing to follow our laws and abide by our Constitution.”

According to the Associated Press, six of the 538 electors nationwide picked a president other than Clinton or Trump. In Texas, one Republican elector voted for Ron Paul. Another voted for John Kasich. In Washington state, three Democratic electors picked Colin Powell and a fourth picked Faith Spotted Eagle, a Native leader who led protests opposed to the Keystone XL Pipeline in South Dakota.

In Colorado, Maine and Minnesota, Democratic electors also attempted to vote for someone other than Clinton, but two were replaced by alternates and one recanted his attempt.

No protesters interrupted the Electoral College voting in Alaska — as happened in Wisconsin — but those in disagreement with the outcome nevertheless made their voices heard.

Outside the doors of the SLAM, Kirsa Hughes-Skandijs held an anti-Trump sign in cold, wet weather. “I back the results of Nov. 8 … but I think this candidate is manifestly unqualified to be president,” she said, citing Trump’s unwillingness to divest himself of financial conflicts before assuming office.

Next to her stood 10-year-old twins Rachel and Kyra Wood. They also held anti-Trump signs.

“We can’t vote with our mind,” Kyra said as Rachel repeated her words, “but we can vote with our heart, and our heart says no DT.”

During the signing ceremony, Juneau resident Dennis Harris silently held up a pink sign emblazoned with the slogan “Don’t Let Putin Win!”

“I was exercising my First Amendment rights, which I have done many times, sometimes at great personal expense,” Harris said after the ceremony.

In the back of the room, other protesters stood with electric tea lights in place of mourning candles. One wore a homemade button with the words “Electoral College” covered by a slash.

“It’s called First Amendment rights. I didn’t try to disrupt anything. I just wanted to express my personal opinion,” Harris said.

Harris was particularly alarmed by Russia’s alleged influence in the election. According to reporting by the Washington Post and New York Times, Russian agents broke into email accounts belonging to the Democratic National Committee and Democratic leaders, then released selected information to the website Wikileaks in an attempt to influence the election in favor of Trump, who is seen as favorable to Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin.

In the audience Monday at the SLAM was Artem Zagorodnov, a Russian journalist and economist brought to Juneau by the Juneau World Affairs Council for a lecture entitled “Putin and Russia’s Evolving Image in the United States.”

Zagorodnov said Russians have a political choice at the polls: “very Putin or moderately Putin.”

Here in the United States, he said, the opportunity to vote for someone as radical as Trump speaks to the health of American democracy. He believes a Trump presidency will be more moderate than some Americans believe.

“I think that speaks to the … healthy system of checks and balances,” he said.

Tupou, one of the electors, appeared to agree with that sentiment.

“Whoever wins the presidential race, it’s not going to be somebody you agree with 100 percent of the time,” she said. “So you work hard on those things you agree with, and you hold them accountable on things you don’t.”

Tupou married into a family of immigrants, and she knows the election has unnerved some on the losing side.

“Regardless of your skin color or your religion, you’re American, and we’re excited for you to be here. I come in a family of immigrants and … I’m excited for all of us to be welcoming and inclusive of all people in America. I’m excited and I’m hopeful that a Trump presidency will be inclusive of all Americans,” she said.

Jerry Ward, a former Alaska legislator and the head of the Trump campaign in Alaska, offered similar words.

“What it means from here as well as for the rest of the nation is just like the man said,” Ward said. “We’re going to have jobs, jobs, jobs, and it’s a bright future for Alaska.”