The 538 members of the Electoral College will cast their states’ votes for president today, finalizing the victory of President-elect Joe Biden. With Ohio's election certified last month, the state's 18 electors will again cast their votes for Donald Trump, who won the state by a similar margin as 2016 even as he lost the presidency.
Four years ago, on December 19, former Senate President and now state auditor Keith Faber welcomed Ohio’s Electoral College members to cast their votes for Trump as a few hundred people protested outside the Statehouse.
“There are those who wish to politicize this process," Faber said in his speech to the electors. "But the day’s proceedings affirm the intent of our country’s founders – to ensure that candidates listen and appeal to voters from all across this country and to every state."
This year, Electoral College members meets at noon in the Ohio Senate chambers. The electors were selected by the Ohio Republican Party in September.
The electors are:
- 1st Congressional district: former Secretary of State and ex-Cincinnati Mayor Ken Blackwell
- 2nd Congressional district: GOP central committee member Bonnie Ward of Waverly
- 3rd Congressional district: Barbara Clark of Columbus
- 4th Congressional district: Allen County Republican Party Chairman Keith Cheney
- 5th Congressional district: Lucas County Republican Party Chairman Mark Wagoner (whose father was the state's first official death from COVID-19 in March)
- 6th Congressional district: Columbiana County Republican Party Chairman Dave Johnson
- 7th Congressional district: Former Sen. Joy Padgett of Coshocton
- 8th Congressional district: GOP central committee member Patti Alderson of West Chester
- 9th Congressional district: Former Cleveland police union leader Steve Loomis
- 10th Congressional district: Former Montgomery County Republican Party Chairman Rob Scott
- 11th Congressional district: Patricia Weber of Akron
- 12th Congressional district: Trump Ohio adviser Bob Paduchik
- 13th Congressional district: Karen Arshinkoff, widow of Summit County Republican Party Chairman Alex Arshinkoff, who died in 2017
- 14th Congressional district: Trump 2020 campaign finance chair Jim Wert of Cleveland
- 15th Congressional district: Superintendent of the Division of Liquor Control Jim Canepa of Dublin
- 16th Congressional district: Ohio Republican Party chairman Jane Timken
- At-large: Women for Trump co-chair and Miss Ohio 2014 Madison Gesiotto of Stark County
- At-large: Cleveland pastor and CEO National Diversity Coalition for Trump Darrell Scott
Biden won about 7 million more votes than Trump in the 2020 election, and secured 306 Electoral Votes to Trump's 232. Electoral voters in other states will be meeting today as well.
Congress will officially declare the presidential winner on January 6, and then Biden will be inaugurated on January 20.
