WASHINGTON – JD McGehee’s status as a federal employee has interfered with his ability to serve as one of President Donald Trump’s six voters in Arkansas.
Then he walked away and left an alternative vote.
The Hot Springs resident is not alone in this regard.
A Republican voter in Texas, for example, withdrew four years ago for the same reason.
And in Idaho, federal officials have been replaced as Republican voters in at least two recent presidential elections: 2004 and 2016.
According to Article II, Section 1, Clause 2, of the United States Constitution, no “person who holds a position of trust or profit in the United States should be named as an elector” McGehee, who serves as district director for Congressman Bruce Westerman, is a federal employee.
This language was interpreted, by some, to prohibit federal officials from serving as voters.
When electoral votes are counted during a joint special session of Congress this week, Republicans will not have to worry about a challenge to McGehee.
Republican officials prefer not to take any chances.
They learned, in the most difficult way, that this type of electoral dispute can cause problems in a tight election.
In 1876, the Oregon governor disqualified one of the state’s Republican voters, arguing that John W. Watts’s status as a low-level local postal worker had made him ineligible to serve. (The post office was a federal agency at the time.)
The governor, a Democrat, chose a member of his own party to replace Watts.
Finally, an election commission decided that Republicans were entitled to Oregon’s contested electoral vote (as well as the disputed votes of South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana).
Republican Rutherford B. Hayes ended up winning the presidency with 185 electoral votes; Democrat Samuel Tilden, who led the popular vote, ended with 184.
McGehee said he received conflicting opinions about his eligibility to serve.
Instead of risking a challenge, he allowed another Republican to vote.
“I didn’t want to do anything that could be problematic for our state’s certification. I didn’t want to do anything that could put anything in question, ”he said.
Doyle Webb, a former president of the Arkansas Republican Party and a fellow voter, said McGehee made the decision out of caution and praised his handling of the situation.
“He is a great individual and a great team player,” said Webb.
Instead of participating in the story, McGehee testified, attending the state capitol ceremony as a guest.
“I am 39 years old and I still have a lot of time. There will be more opportunities, hopefully, in the future. But I will put the state first and put Arkansas first … .. That’s why I am retiring,” he said. he to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Even though he was unable to vote for one of the state’s six electoral votes, McGehee said that 2020 was “a great political year” that he will remember for a long time.
He served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, NC in August and attended Trump’s acceptance speech at the White House.
“[As] a boy from Delta, it’s amazing to have had all these opportunities “in 2020, he said.