Jack Vanderflught, one of Iowa’s six presidential electors, showed Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate his driver’s license for identity verification as he and the other electors met to cast their votes for President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance to the electoral college for the 2024 presidential election Dec. 17, 2024. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Iowa’s votes for President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance were finalized Tuesday as the state’s presidential electors’ meeting was held to submit votes to the electoral college.
The meeting, overseen by Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate and Gov. Kim Reynolds, was the last step for the state in the 2024 presidential election process. All six of Iowa’s electoral votes — four presidential electors representing the state’s four congressional districts in addition to two at-large electors representing Iowa’s U.S. Senate seats — cast their ballots for Trump and Vance Tuesday. They were a handful of the 538 presidential electors who make up the electoral college, who met at their state capitols Tuesday across the country to weigh in on the presidential election.
Reynolds and Pate thanked the six presidential electors “for their service” in performing this duty to formalize election results. Pate also thanked Iowans for participating in the 2024 election, saying it’s “inspiring to see Iowans come out every year to do their part.”
“Iowans turned out strong to make their voices heard at the ballot box,” Pate said. “In the 2024 general election, more than 1.6 million Iowans voted — 74% of Iowa registered voters. We have one highest voter registration and turnout rates, and we thank Iowans for fulfilling their substituting and casting their ballots — 927,019 Iowans cast their ballot for Donald Trump for president and J.D. Vance for vice president, securing 55.73% of Iowans’ votes and enabling them to secure the vote of Iowa’s six electors. The Trump-Vance ticket carried 94 out of Iowa’s 99 counties. Those votes were technically and legally cast, with six of you (in) the role of presidential electors.”
Jack Vanderflught, a social studies teacher at the Dallas Center-Grimes Community High School, served as one of the presidential electors. He said the process was “easier” than he thought it would be after going through the process of being nominated for the role by at the Republican Party of Iowa’s district and state conventions. The electors were all bound by law to cast their votes for Trump, who won the state’s popular vote in 2024 with 56% of the vote to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 43%.
“I’ve been teaching about the government for my entire life, and I knew about the basics of the process,” he said. “… When I looked over and saw the media and everybody, you realize that this is something (important), and it’s an honor to be here.”
Pate said Iowa’s presidential elector votes will be submitted to the Office of the Federal Register. On Jan. 6, 2025, U.S. Congress will meet in a joint session to count the Electoral College votes; Harris, serving as president of the Senate, will then announce the winner of the election.
Trump and Vance will be inaugurated Jan. 20, 2025.
