Former Democratic presidential candidate and former first lady Hillary Clinton said in an interview that she is one of the Electoral College electors in New York state.
Previously, Clinton has called for the abolition of the Electoral College, which is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, where electors directly vote for the president and vice president. Clinton has claimed that the president should be selected based on the popular vote after she won nearly 3 million more votes than President Donald Trump in 2016, although Trump obtained far more electoral votes.
The Electoral College is established in Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution. The Founding Fathers designed the body as an alternative to electing the president by popular vote or by Congress.
Clinton also told the program that she is planning to vote early in-person for the forthcoming Nov. 3 election. She said that in New York, the lines have been long.
“I’m waiting for either a break in the line so I can vote early, or I'll just, you know, take up a bag lunch and go stand in line and vote on Election Day, depending upon what I can get done,” Clinton said.
In an August interview, President Trump told the New York Post that he believes he could win in New York state, citing a spike in crime and high taxes.
“Over the last six months what’s happened is insane. It’s insane. So we’re going to try very hard to win New York and that will be the first time—is that since Ronald Reagan, I guess? Since Ronald Reagan,” Trump said. “I will bring down taxes and I’ll make sure that New York City is a safe place. I mean, this is one of our cherished—this is a cherished diamond of this country. And we can’t let this happen to New York.”
Trump was born and raised in New York City, lamenting in the interview how the city has deteriorated in recent years.
“We’re going to invest in there, we’ll visit. I’m going to put it down as you know on the list,” the president said. “For instance, we think we’re going to win New Mexico, we think we’re going to win Minnesota. We think we’re, we have a shot perhaps at Virginia because they have a very, very strange governor.”
While New York City—with the exception of Staten Island—and other cities in the state typically lean Democrat, much of western and Upstate New York state voted in favor of Trump in 2016.
