Electors Bill Allen, Susan Fischetti and Lucy Groh told NewsMax.com it doesn't matter
what anybody tells them. The residents of Alaska have made
their choice loud and clear. They want Bush to be the next president of the
United States.
Still, they've received calls from various press people who tell them that Gore
will win the popular vote and that it's within their right to change their vote
if their conscience tells them to do so.
Groh recalled how one reporter was very aggressive with her over the phone.
Although she didn't feel intimidated, what bothered her most about the
reporter was that he acted as if she didn't know the rules regarding the
Electoral College.
"I had one [reporter] that kept telling me, 'You know you could [vote for
Gore],' " Groh said.
"I was insulted that someone would think that I didn't
know I could switch my vote. I mean, I know I could do a lot of illegal
things, but that would be an immoral thing."
"It isn't maybe illegal, but it's immoral," Groh added.
Groh told NewsMax.com she didn't think to record the names or the news
organizations of the reporters until after most had already called. The
other electors had trouble remembering names as well.
But even if they didn't remember the names of the reporters, they did
remember the questions that were asked.
Fischetti said one media representative who called her simply wanted to know
if she would change her vote. She said he then went into a careful
explanation of how he wasn't from the Gore campaign.
"They assured me that all they were doing was trying to do a story on the
Electoral College," Fischetti said. "They asked me if Al Gore won the
popular vote, would I maybe, you know, change, and I said that well, in
Alaska, he didn't win the popular vote."
In a statement reminiscent of that of the small states at the time
of the Great Compromise in 1787, Fischetti said: "If [Gore] wins the
popular vote of the whole country, that doesn't mean anything to me in
Alaska. We only have a half million people anyway, so we would just pretty
much say, well, people in New York and L.A. can choose our president for us
because we only have a half million people. They have the popular vote."
During the Great Compromise, small states such as New Jersey and large
states such as Virginia argued over state representation in Congress.
Virginia argued representation should be based solely on population. New
Jersey argued every state should have equal representation. The result of
the compromise is the bicameral Congress – the Senate and House of
Representatives – found today in Washington.
Ironically, California Gov. Gray Davis, on Fox News Channel yesterday,
in a call to change the Electoral College, made a "big state" argument,
saying that although a good handful of states together carry as many
electoral votes as California, they still don't have nearly the population
of the Golden State. Davis argued this wasn't fair to the residents of
California.
Recollecting calls he received from reporters, Allen told NewsMax.com he
remembered receiving a call from Mark Matthews, a student reporter for
Capital News Service. This news wire is operated by the College of
Journalism at the University of Maryland and has a bureau in Annapolis and
Washington. Clients of the service include the Washington Post,
Washington Times, Knight Ridder Tribune News Service, the Baltimore Sun
and FoxNews.com.
Regarding Matthews' call, Allen said, "It was kind of like he was trying to
talk me into [switching my vote], and I said no way. Bush is good for
Alaska, and that's how I'm voting."
When Allen was pressed as to whether he thought Matthews was really trying
to persuade him to change his vote, he said: "You know, I can't really say
that. It seems that way, but I can't think of anything he said that would
make me dead sure."
NewsMax.com contacted Matthews for an explanation of his query to the
Alaskan elector. According to Matthews, his questions were misunderstood.
"I didn't say that they could change their votes. I was just asking them who
they would vote for," Matthews said.
Matthews explained further that he was working on a story in cooperation
with Knight Ridder News Service in which he is attempting to contact all
electors throughout the country to see who they will vote for in December.
He added that electors have changed their votes in the past and wanted
to see if this was a possibility this year.
Sure enough, Matthews had contacted the other two Alaskan electors as well.
According to Groh, Matthews had asked her if she and her fellow electors
were going to have a confirmation meeting regarding their votes. Groh said
she wouldn't insult them by calling such a meeting.
Commenting on the calls she received from certain members in the press, Groh
said: "I have watched journalists not be journalists now for some years.
They try to make the news."
Allen agreed that getting the calls from the media regarding his vote for Alaska was strange.
When asked if he thought he would be getting as many calls if the election
weren't so close, Allen said, "Definitely not."
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