Illinois’ presidential electors to meet Tuesday to cast votes for Harris

[December 17, 2024]  By Peter Hancock

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois’ presidential electors will meet at the Statehouse on Tuesday to cast their votes for president and vice president of the United States.

The ceremony, which is held on the same day in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., is one of the final steps in certifying the winner of the presidential election. The process is spelled out in federal law and the U.S. Constitution.

“A successful election is defined by more than just what happens on Election Day,” Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said during a Monday news conference in Chicago. “It depends on various voter registration efforts throughout the state, including at our DMVs, and collaboration with county clerks across Illinois to register voters and ensure clean voting rolls. Volunteers and other public servants work long, stressful days to make sure that the tenets of democracy are upheld at our polling places and that the votes are counted accurately.”

Article 2 of the Constitution provides that the number of electoral votes in each state is equal to the number of senators and representatives that state has in Congress. And the 23rd amendment provides that Washington, D.C., receive the same number of electoral votes it would have if it were a state, which is three.

That brings the total number of electoral votes in the United States to 538, including 19 from Illinois.

In Illinois, electors are chosen by the political party whose presidential candidate wins the popular vote. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, won Illinois’ popular vote 54% to 43% and thus will receive the state’s 19 electoral votes. But former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, won the popular vote in enough other states to win the majority of electoral votes nationally.

According to the Democratic Party of Illinois, the 19 electors will be former U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush; state Sens. Cristina Castro, Bill Cunningham and Omar Aquino; state Reps. Will Davis, Angelica Guerrero-Cuellar, Hoan Huynh and Maurice West; Illinois Board of Education member Christine Benson; Illinois Civil Service Commission member Vivian Robinson; Democratic State Central Committee members Kristina Zahorik, Melinda Bush, Kate Daniels and Elizabeth Lindquist; state employee Mariah McGuire; businesswoman and former national Democratic Party leader Smita Shah; lobbyist Loretta Durbin, wife of Sen. Dick Durbin; Vera Davis, wife of Congressman Danny Davis; and Paul Kendrick, executive director of the Democratic campaign group Rust Belt Rising.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Adams)

After Tuesday’s ceremony at the Statehouse, the electors’ ballots will be sent to the president of the U.S. Senate, where they will be opened and counted during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. Since the vice president serves as president of the Senate, that means Harris will have the responsibility to open the ballots and declare her opponent, Trump, the winner.

A similar result occurred in 2021 when then-Vice President Mike Pence was required to declare Democrat Joe Biden the winner over then-President Trump. That ceremony was interrupted when a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a failed attempt to prevent the electoral votes from being certified.

In 2001, Democratic Vice President Al Gore was required to certify results in favor of his opponent, Republican George W. Bush. And in 1961, Republican Vice President Richard Nixon was required to certify results in favor of his opponent, Democrat John F. Kennedy.

Additional copies of the ballots are sent to the National Archives, the Illinois State Board of Elections, and the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.