Georgia, Alabama give all votes to Trump,

Electors in Georgia and Alabama on Monday added 25 more votes — 16 and nine, respectively — for President-elect Donald Trump.

Georgia law doesn’t require electors selected by the state party to back their party’s candidate, and the group has been swamped by emails, letters and other appeals to vote for another candidate as part of a longshot effort to deny Trump the presidency.

But electors chosen by fellow Republicans have always said they would support the outcome of Georgia’s popular vote for Trump.

John Padgett, chairman of the state Republican Party, said the group was chosen to represent Republicans in the state, “the neatest, coolest position” available. Padgett said electors reported receiving between 70,000 and 90,000 emails urging them to back another candidate.

“But you’re here today, and you’ve had smiles on your faces from the first time I saw you this morning to right now,” he said.

About 200 people marched near the Capitol ahead of Monday’s vote, chanting “Dump Trump, save America.” Several said they didn’t expect electors to ditch the Republican, who won Georgia’s popular vote in November’s election.

Theo Beck, an Atlanta attorney, said she hoped Monday’s show of opposition will spark some “awareness” in the country.

“I hope it begins a push and people don’t get complacent,” Beck, 38, said. “He needs to know that more than half of the country didn’t vote for him.”

And in Alabama, several dozen protesters marched and chanted outside the Capitol, but spectators inside stood and applauded when all Alabama’s electors stuck with Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence.

“Let the record show that the president-elect received more votes for the presidency than any candidate in the history of Alabama,” said Secretary of State John Merrill.

Richard Rhone of Tuscaloosa, portraying Benjamin Franklin and dressed in Colonial garb, addressed the crowded chamber to cheers.

“This is an important event. This is the constitutional way we select the president and the vice president of the United States,” he said.

Outside, dozens of Trump opponents held up signs urging the electors to abstain from voting or to vote for someone other than Trump. Demonstrator Russell Siebers, 30, said he was worried by Trump’s harsh election rhetoric and possible conflicts of interest involving his businesses.

But leading state Republicans expressed nothing but praise for Trump. That included Gov. Robert Bentley, who at one point had said he couldn’t vote for Trump because of the GOP nominee’s crude sexual remarks about women.

“I’m very excited about our new president,” said Bentley. “He has a great agenda, and I am supporting his agenda 100 percent.”