Georgia's Republican presidential electors formally voted for former President Donald Trump on Tuesday at a ceremony at the state Capitol.
The 16 electors, who were largely local GOP leaders, met on the same day electors in every state cast their votes either for Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris, depending on which candidate most voters in their state supported on Election Day last month.
Trump received 312 electoral votes, well above the 270 needed to win the election, compared to 226 for Democrat Harris. The former president carried Georgia by more than 115,000 votes.
Democrats have recently complained about the Electoral College, which the nation's founders incorporated into the U.S. Constitution by the nation's founders.
In 2016, Democratic Hillary Clinton won more popular votes than Republican Donald Trump but lost in the Electoral College. The same thing happened to Republican Al Gore in 2000, when he won the popular vote but lost to Republican George W. Bush.
However, Georgia Republican Chairman Josh McKoon, who served as an elector and chaired Tuesday's meeting, defended the Electoral College as a wise decision by the founders.
'They didn't want the most populous state in the nation picking the president,' McKoon said. 'That's why every state can participate in the Electoral College.'
McKoon said he was gratified that Tuesday's meeting ran 'like clockwork,' in contrast to four years ago, when Republicans fielded an alternate slate of electors who met at the Capitol to vote for Trump, even though Democrat Joe Biden had won the popular vote in Georgia. The actual electors—all Democrats—met on the same day inside the state Senate chambers on the same day to vote for Biden.
On Tuesday, McKoon said the Republican group met on the advice of lawyers who said the alternate slate of electors was necessary to preserve Trump's legal options to challenge the 2020 election results. Those challenges were later dismissed in various courts.
Congress will meet on Jan. 6 to count the electoral votes nationwide. On Jan. 20, Trump will take the oath of office on Jan. 20 on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.