Why does America still have the Electoral College?
Governor Tim Walz recently said, “the Electoral College needs to go.” Is it time for the United States to switch to a national popular vote?
Pennsylvanians weeks ago decided to award the Keystone State’s coveted electoral college votes to Republican Donald Trump.
Later this month, 19 people will gather in Harrisburg to make it official.
This group, the individuals selected as presidential electors for Trump, includes top figures in the Pennsylvania GOP, rising Republican stars and fervent Trump loyalists. The list also features five former “fake electors,” who joined a plot advanced by Trump and his allies to contest the 2020 election results.
Slates of these fake electors formed in Pennsylvania and several other swing states won by President Joe Biden as supposed alternates for the real electors. While participants have faced prosecution in some states, Pennsylvania’s false electors have not been charged.
There aren’t many rules for picking electors, although the Constitution prohibits state officials guilty of insurrection or rebellion from serving in the role, according to the National Archives. Often, campaigns or parties choose the electors as a reward for dedicated service.
In Pennsylvania, presidential nominees have to compile their lists of electors within 30 days of their party convention.
Trump’s electors are slated to convene in Harrisburg Dec. 17 to cast their votes for the president-elect.
Here’s who they are:
William ‘Bill’ Bachenberg, Allentown
Bachenberg, whose family owns a Lehigh County shooting range, headed up Pennsylvania’s slate of fake electors for Trump in 2020. The millionaire also financed efforts trying to substantiate Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud in the election, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Bachenberg, who sits on the board of the National Rifle Association, also co-chaired a group called Sportsmen for Trump.
Val Biancaniello, Broomall
Biancaniello was a delegate to the Republican National Convention this year and is also a GOP state committeewoman. She was arrested in late October at a Delaware County voter center following complaints she was acting disorderly, according to NBC10. A recording of the arrest circulated widely on social media, and the chairman of the Republican National Committee weighed in saying Biancaniello was detained merely for encouraging voters to stay in line.
Curt Coccodrilli, Jefferson Township
Coccodrilli served in the first Trump administration as USDA director of rural development in Pennsylvania. Coccodrilli has also worked as a district director for U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, a Trump ally.
Bernadette Comfort, Fogelsville
Comfort is vice chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party. She also holds a position within her local party, the Lehigh County County Republican Committee, and has served on the Pennsylvania Commission for Women. In 2020, she was a fake elector for Trump.
Robert Gleason, Johnstown
Gleason headed the Pennsylvania GOP for more than 10 years. His family is prominent in the Pennsylvania Republican Party, with his father spending nearly five decades leading the Cambria County GOP and becoming the longest-serving county party chair in the nation.
He now serves as president of the Westmont Hilltop School Board in Cambria County.
Joyce Haas, State College
Haas is a political consultant who has worked in Pennsylvania for several Republican presidential candidates, as well as on gubernatorial and attorney general campaigns. She has served as vice chair of the Pennsylvania Republican Party and as a delegate to the Republican National Convention. She was appointed regional administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration during Trump’s first term.
Fred Keller, Middleburg
Keller spent nearly a decade in the Pennsylvania House before being elected in 2019 as a U.S. congressman in the 12th District. In 2020, he supported efforts to overturn Trump’s loss and was among the Republican congressmen to object to certifying Pennsylvania’s election outcome. He decided not to run for re-election in 2022. Earlier this year, Trump named Keller to serve on a Pennsylvania leadership team tasked with building support for him in the commonwealth.
Ash Khare, Warren
Khare is a GOP activist and state committeeman with the Warren County Republican Committee. He was a fake elector for Trump in 2020.
Jondavid Longo, Slippery Rock
Longo, a Marine veteran, was elected Slippery Rock’s mayor in 2018 at age 27, becoming the youngest person ever to fill the role. He also serves on the Butler County Republican Committee.
An up-and-comer in Pennsylvania GOP politics, Longo was invited to address the crowd at Trump’s rally in Butler, where a gunman tried to assassinate the former president. Longo also spoke at a Pittsburgh Trump rally on the eve of the presidential election.
Robin Medeiros, Clarks Summit
The Lackawanna County real estate agent serves as president of the Margery Scranton Council of Republican Women. She traveled to Milwaukee this year as an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention, according to the Scranton Times-Tribune.
Rochelle Pasquariello, Lehighton
Pasquariello was elected as a delegate this year to the Republican National Convention and serves on the Carbon County Republican Committee.
Patricia Poprik, Doylestown
Poprik chairs the Bucks County Republican Committee. She was also one of Trump’s fake electors during the 2020 election.
Andrew Reilly, Media
Reilly, an attorney, is a national committeeman for the Pennsylvania Republican Party and is its former secretary. He served two terms as a Delaware County councilman and is former chairman of the Delaware County Republican Party. He was one of Trump’s fake electors in 2020.
Carol ‘Lynne’ Ryan, New Castle
Ryan chairs the Lawrence County Republican Committee, maintaining her post despite an attempt earlier this year to oust her, according to the New Castle News.
A topsoil farmer, she made the New York Times several years ago after she spray-painted a 450-foot-long “Trump” sign in one of her fields. Trump was so pleased by the show of support that he sent Ryan an autographed and framed copy of the article, according to Erie News Now.
Carla Sands, Camp Hill
Sands served as the U.S. ambassador to Denmark during Trump’s first administration and now works as vice chair of energy and environment for a pro-Trump think tank called the America First Policy Institute. There, she has espoused the beliefs that children are killing themselves because of climate change and that electric vehicles are worse for the environment than gas-fueled cars, according to Politico.
She ran an unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate in 2022, losing the GOP nomination to Dr. Mehmet Oz. Earlier this year, Trump named her to serve on a Pennsylvania leadership team tasked with building support for him in the commonwealth.
James ‘Jim’ Vasilko, Johnstown
Vasilko is a real estate developer and has been elected repeatedly as a delegate to the Republican National Convention. He also serves as a state committeeman for the Pennsylvania GOP.
T. Lynette Villano, West Pittston
The GOP activist from Luzerne County was dubbed “Trump’s biggest fan” in a Politico Magazine article, with her support for him causing deep rifts in her familial relationships. She’s the former chair of the Luzerne County GOP and has served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention.
Christine Wilkins, East Stroudsburg/Analomink
Wilkins runs a real estate agency with her husband and spent nearly 10 years as a Stroud Township supervisor. She serves on the Monroe County Republican Committee and ran an unsuccessful campaign for Monroe County commissioner in 2023.
Samuel ‘Jim’ Worthington, Newtown
Worthington, the owner of a Bucks County fitness club that hosted a Trump fundraiser earlier this year, chaired Pennsylvania’s delegation to the RNC and called the former president the “bravest man in America” during his convention floor speech. Worthington, who served on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition during Trump’s first term, also helped organize buses to travel to D.C. for the Stop the Steal rally on Jan. 6, 2021.
Bethany Rodgers is a USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania capital bureau investigative journalist.