Emotional Washington elector casts vote for Biden-Harris despite terminal illness

'I was glad to do my duty,' said Jack Arends, one of 12 state electors, 'and rid our nation of a petty dictator.'

Dec 15, 2020

A Washington state elector, sharing his terminal-illness diagnosis, emotionally divulged that he was “glad” to still be able to cast a vote for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

“I did so enthusiastically, of my own choice. I did not need a law to tell me I had to do it,” elector Jack Arends, 64, told those assembled Monday at the Olympia Capitol, his voice trembling.

Jack Arends, a terminally ill elector from Washington state, becomes emotional while doing his duty in casting his vote for Biden/Harris. https://t.co/yBWRNi8ag1
— Holly Figueroa O'Reilly 🌸 (@AynRandPaulRyan) December 15, 2020

“Today was a chance to begin the end of the Trump administration. I was glad to do my duty and rid our nation of a petty dictator,” said Arends. “Had he won a second term, there is no limit to the damage he could’ve done to the world.”

“It will be up to others to do the hard work of rebuilding our nation, as my health is failing,” he continued. “In November, I was told there is no more medical treatment that can help me,” Arends said, “so it was important for me to do this one thing that I could do while I still can.”

After giving his speech, the man broke into tears, and his words were met with applause.

Arends is a retired aviation industry analyst and activist who told reporters that doctors diagnosed him with an inoperable heart valve problem.

Washington state’s Republican secretary of state, Kim Wyman, remarked that “despite a global pandemic that has changed our lives in ways we could not have ever imagined and amid social unrest and protest, we oversaw one of the most exciting and impassioned elections in recent memory.”

“I am deeply touched by your emotion and I’m so glad that you’re here and that you are able to be one of the electors representing our state,” Wyman told Arends. “It’s an honor to be in the room with you.”

The state saw its second-highest turnout percentage in November, with over 84 percent of eligible voters casting ballots.

In speaking to the state’s 12 Electoral College electors, Gov. Jay Inslee said, “there has been an unprecedented attack on the very foundations of democracy in our nation recently, and you are standing against that.”

One elector, Sophia Danenberg, said she was “so, so proud” to vote for Harris, “who will be making history as the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian Vice President of the United States.”

Danenberg is of Japanese and African American heritage.

She took the opportunity to advocate for the abolishment of the Electoral College, saying the process was “created over 200 years ago, to deal with complexities that no longer exist.”

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