HONOLULU — For 60 years, Hawaii’s presidential election of 1960 stood as a historical footnote, remarkable only as the new state’s first participation in selecting a new national leader.
However, following the 2020 presidential election and the subsequent efforts of incumbent President Donald Trump and his supporters to overturn a victory by Joe Biden, the election has been held up as a historical precedent in defense of so-called “alternate electors” in Georgia now facing prosecution for election interference.
What You Need To Know
While the outcome of the closely contested presidential race was still awaiting confirmation via recount, two sets of electors convened to cast votes in favor of both Nixon and Kennedy
The recount ultimately reversed the state results, awarding Kennedy an even narrower 115-vote win; the Kennedy electors subsequently reconvened to sign a new set of certifying documents, which Gov. Bill Quinn transmitted to Washington
Attorneys for the Georgia defendants claim the Hawaii case serves as viable precedent, essentially upholding their assertion that the act of convening alternate electors is not in itself illegal
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis rejected the assertion in a brief submitted to the Fulton County Superior Court, which is set to hear arguments against 19 election interference defendants, including former president Donald Trump
The Hawaii election initially resulted in a narrow 140-vote victory for then-Vice President Richard Nixon.
