Battle Ground elector looks to future after casting vote for Biden

Jackie Lane, a Battle Ground woman and active member of the Democratic party, was among the 12 Washington electors to cast their votes for Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris on Monday.

“I hope that years from now we will look back at this as the beginning of the great healing, and a push toward the future where we really deal with climate change and our other issues, racial problems and everything else,” Lane said in her remarks to the fellow electors and state government officials who attended the ceremony. “I’m glad to be part of this turn toward the future.”

As Lane told The Columbian last month, she was selected by the party’s state committee to serve as the representative from Washington’s 3rd Congressional District. She currently serves as action and advocacy chair for the League of Women Voters of Clark County, and had also previously spent a decade as the precinct committee officer in the 18th Legislative District for the Democratic party.

The group that voted Monday was made up of one representative from each of the state’s 10 congressional districts, as well as two at-large electors. They gathered in the state Senate chambers in Olympia on Monday morning to cast their votes, wearing masks and abiding by social distancing regulations.

Each voted for the Biden-Harris ticket to reflect the state’s popular vote in accordance with a new state law – after four Washington electors went rogue in 2016, the state passed legislation that nullifies the vote of faithless electors and replaces them with an alternate.

In an emotionally charged speech, Secretary of State Kim Wyman, a Republican, touted the state’s near-record turnout “despite a global pandemic that has changed our lives in ways we could not have ever imagined, and amid social unrest and protests.”

“The ceremony and tradition of this meeting mark an end to one of the most contentious elections of our time, and symbolize the foundation of our constitutional Republic. This is a moment in our country’s history where electors in state capitals across America are convening to cast their votes on behalf of the voters in their respective states,” Wyman said, pausing as she appeared to choke up. “As you can see, this is getting me today.”

“While some people continue to call into question the outcome of this election, average citizens from all walks of life will step up today to exercise their responsibility to perform their constitutional duty.”