Fearing a potential legal challenge from President Donald Trump, New York state's electoral college, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, will vote in person Monday in Albany, much to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's dismay.
"We're actually going to have to convene people in the Capitol in the midst of this situation," Cuomo told WAMC-FM, LoHud.com reported. "It's not a large group, but you can't do it virtually, or we don't believe, legally, you can do it virtually."
"By law, the electors must convene in the state Capitol," he added. "It doesn't say, 'except if you have a global pandemic.'"
New York had sought a potential virtual vote amid a COVID-19 spike, but state Election Law contextually states: "The electors shall convene at the state capitol."
"For our electoral votes to be indisputable, it's probably worth going the extra mile," western New York elector Judith Hunter, chair of the Livingston County Democratic Committee and the state Democratic Rural Conference, told LoHud.
New York's electors meeting will begin noon Monday, likely in the Albany Assembly chamber, which houses 150 lawmakers as the largest room in the Capitol.
"This would not be the year to mess around with the Electoral College," Jay Jacobs, the state Democratic chairman, told LoHud. "Given the year, given the time, given the circumstance and who we're dealing with, I think we should do it just as it was originally thought of to be done."
Bill Clinton voted in the Capitol before, casting a ballot for Hillary in the 2016 presidential election.
"I've never cast a vote I was prouder of," he told reporters after the 2016 vote, per LoHud.
State law does allow electors to be swapped out if they decide not to travel to the Capitol for the in-person vote.
"We're discussing the event and how it can be conducted as safely as possible," Cuomo adviser Rich Azzopardi told the paper.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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