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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's Republican electors cast the state's six Electoral College votes for President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance at the Capitol in Salt Lake City Tuesday.
The six electors — one for each of Utah's two senators and four representatives — signed that they would support the Republican ticket when Electoral College votes are counted in Congress on Jan. 6, 2025. The Trump-Vance ticket carried the Beehive State last month with 58.13% of the vote.
Britshana Barfuss, 29, of Layton, called it a "privilege" to cast one of Utah's electoral votes for the incoming presidential administration. She said she first got involved in politics last year with the effort to send the new state flag to a statewide referendum. She then attended the Davis County Republican convention and ultimately ran to be one of the state's GOP electors at the statewide Republican nominating convention in April.
"It's a privilege, honestly," she told KSL.com after voting Tuesday. "Not everybody could sit here and vote (as) a presidential elector every four years, so I'm really glad I got the opportunity to do this. It was really cool. ... I'm surprised that there's not a lot of information on the internet about this, so I'm hoping that as I experience this, I can help get a whole bunch of other people — especially the younger generation — get involved so they can learn about these cool experiences. Then they can volunteer and we can help strengthen the Republican base."
"This is the way that our founders envisioned we would elect our president and vice president, and so here we are, almost 250 years later, still following those guiding principles that founded our nation," said Jordan Hess, another elector.
While all eligible Americans can cast votes in each presidential election, the presidency is ultimately decided by the Electoral College. Utah awards all of its electoral votes to the winner of the state's popular vote. Republicans have won the state in every presidential election cycle dating back to 1968.
The electoral votes must arrive at Congress no later than the fourth Wednesday in December — which is Christmas Day this year — in order to be counted. Congress will count the votes in a joint session on Jan. 6, 2025.
Rob Axson, the chairman of the Utah Republican Party, told electors the Electoral College vote is the "core of our constitutional republic."
"(It's) all the more important for you guys to talk about what a cool process this is and how important it is that you've done what you've done and are doing what you're doing," Axson said.
He told KSL.com that the system — rather than a nationwide popular vote — is critical for national unity.
"The president of the United States is meant to represent all 50 states with all of the various challenges and opportunities that come," he said. "A popular vote would move to a place where a president could become elected by having gotten and received votes in certain regions and they could effectively ignore or be untethered to the needs of other important parts of our country, and that would be to our detriment."
Utah's electors will travel to Washington for Trump's second inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025. The full list of Utah's electors includes:
- Britshana Barfuss
- Trent Christensen
- Jordan Hess
- Kris Kimball
- Kristen Small
- Gina Worthen
