Montana Electors Cast Their Votes for Donald Trump in Helena

Montana, with the minimum number of electors possible for such a small population, cast all three of their votes on Monday afternoon for President Donald J. Trump.

State GOP Chairman Don Kaltschmidt was on Talk Back on Monday to talk about the importance of the Electoral College in American politics.

“It gave states like Montana with a million people in them or Wyoming which has only 600,000 a place to be represented,” said Kaltschmidt. “So even though we have three electoral votes and say, New York has 40 or Texas or California, it's really fair because the voice of the entire country is represented.”

Kaltschmidt said the popular vote alone would mean smaller states like Montana would be left out in the cold politically.

“If we were by the popular vote, your vote in Montana would be nothing, zero,” he said. “Because they have a million people in a small county in big states and so the point is that we have a voice here in Montana because it's been set up by the founders so that it's a fair deal. So small states have very few electoral votes, but they do have electoral votes.”

Kaltschmidt said even a small state like Montana could turn the tide in a close election.

“In a certain scenario, Montana could be the difference,” he said. “It isn't in this election but could be the difference in a really close election. So it was an ingenious thing. It's something we need to preserve, to keep our rural states with a voice in who is elected our president because without it, it would basically be decided on the coasts.”

Kaltschmidt was proud of Montana’s Republican sweep in the major political races.

“Our top priority is getting the economy going again and Greg Gianforte is the best man to lead that comeback,” he said. “We want to create more good paying jobs for Montanans, and the other thing that's cool about President Trump's legacy is that his commitment to fighting for blue collar workers, male and female, is something we want to do to expand upon our party. So make no mistake, the Republican Party is the party of the working class Montanans. I think that was clear this last election and we want to create jobs, taxes and get the economy going again.”

Late Monday the Electoral College officially confirmed that Joe Biden was the President-Elect.