Elector Says He's Switching Vote from Clinton to Sanders

Much attention is being paid to Republican electors who may switch their votes from Donald Trump, but there may be defectors on the other side of the aisle as well.

David Bright, an elector in Maine who was expected to vote for Hillary Clinton, has announced that he plans to switch his vote in favor of Bernie Sanders when the state holds its vote today.

The Maine Secretary of State's office confirmed that Bright is one of the state's four electors and he plans to change his vote.

Bright's move to change his vote goes against state laws, but unlike other states, there is no financial penalty for the move.

"If my vote today could have helped Secretary Clinton win the presidency, I would have voted for her. But as the Electoral College meets all across this nation on this day, I see no likelihood of 38 Republican electors defecting from their party and casting their ballots for Secretary Clinton. So Hillary Clinton will not become President, and there is nothing I can do about that. Knowing this, I was left to find a positive statement I could make with my vote," Bright wrote in a statement he posted on his Facebook account.

"I am not a Clinton elector, I am a Democratic elector. I do not represent Democrats all over the country, I represent the Democrats in Maine," he wrote.

"I cast my vote for Bernie Sanders not out of spite, or malice, or anger, or as an act of civil disobedience. I mean no disrespect to our nominee. I cast my vote to represent thousands of Democratic Maine voters – many less than a third my age – who came into Maine politics for the first time this year because of Bernie Sanders."

Before electors began meeting this morning, ABC News had only identified one pledged to Trump who said he was not going to vote for the president-elect.

That elector, Chris Suprun from Texas, told ABC News’ "Nightline" this week referred to the Russian hacking, saying he was "concerned when a foreign government intrudes on our elections."

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from ABC News: Politics http://ift.tt/2hAFSF0

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