5Q’s: A chat w/elector Jennifer Locke

• Huckleberries: Do you plan to change your mind re: casting your elector ballot for Republican Donald Trump Monday:
• Jennifer Locke: No. I’ve never been this excited about a nominee and a president in a long time. We are already seeing a renewed optimism in our economy and in our country.

• Huckleberries: How hard have you been lobbied by others to vote for someone other than Trump?
• Jennifer Locke: I received probably 200-300 letters in the mail. They have increased this last week.  I have received about 6,000 emails. I had to turn my email account off.  A lot of the emails have been similar and some are the exact same wording.  Most of them are from out of state and it’s people asking me to vote for Hillary.  I received many phone messages.  Obviously, Twitter and some Facebook messages too.  I’m not engaging with the people trying to contact me, but I do take the time to read any letters that I see come from Idaho, which is few.

• Huckleberries: How did you get to be a Trump elector?
• Jennifer Locke: I started supporting Trump early on in primary. I got in contact with a state campaign director for Trump, Alan Cobb, from Kansas. There was nothing organized in Idaho at the time. He allowed Rod Beck and I to reach out to see if we could find county chairs. We found 42 county chairs for Trump out of 44 counties. We also came up with a list of delegates for the national convention. We had to summit those delegate names early on. I went to the national convention as a Trump delegate. I was asked by the state party a week after the convention if I wanted to be an elector. It was a honor. It’s very humbling. I’m excited to be part of history at this time.

• Huckleberries: Do you think the Electoral College is the best way to pick presidents?
• Jennifer Locke: Yes, because it allows each state to have its own popular vote. If you only elected presidents by a national popular vote, you would have candidates campaigning differently. They would be campaigning in biggest cities and most populated states. They would avoid flyover middle America. The electoral college allows smaller states to have a voice in the election.  It is a popular vote, too.  It’s a popular vote in each state.

• Huckleberries: Why are you committed to Trump?
• Jennifer Locke: This quote from Trump is one of the main reasons I supported him early on, along with his America first message.  “We will pursue a new foreign policy that finally learns from the mistakes of the past.  We will stop looking to topple regimes and overthrow governments.  Our goal is stability not chaos.  In our dealings with other countries we will seek shared interests where-ever possible and pursue new era of peace, understand, and goodwill.”  I am honored to cast an Electoral vote in Idaho for Trump on Monday.  We are already seeing a renewed optimism in our economy and country. The next four years will be exciting to watch unfold.