EO MEDIA GROUP - Protestors outside the Oregon State Capitol rallied Monday against the election of Donald Trump and the Constitution's electoral process and Oregon's seven members of the Electorial College cast their votes inside for Hillary Clinton.

SALEM — Oregon’s seven Electoral College members cast their votes Monday morning at the Oregon State Capitol for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Frank J. Dixon, an elector and chair of the Democratic Party of Oregon, said during Monday’s vote on the Oregon Senate floor that he spoke for all the electors when he voiced objection to the electoral process.

“I just want to, on behalf of the entire elector group here today, object to this process to preserve the record to allow further inquiry of the electoral process given the interference by the Russian government in our election process,” Dixon said.

Amid cheering from the gallery, Atkins called public attendees to order.

Dixon then added:

“And to preserve for the record our objection, this process does not honor the principle of one person, one vote.”

Under the U.S. Constitution, the winner of the presidential election is the candidate who wins the majority of electoral votes, not the winner of the popular vote. Each state has a number of electors that corresponds to the number of members in its Congressional delegation, and it is those electors who are chosen by the popular vote.

Generally, the winner of the popular vote in any state is awarded all of the state’s electors. All of Oregon’s seven votes went to Clinton.

Groups gathered in state capitols across the country Monday to urge Republican Party electors to not cast votes for Donald J. Trump, who was expected to win 306 of the 538 Electoral College votes, but lost the popular vote Nov. 8 by about 2 million votes. That effort was largely unsuccessful, with only two Texas electors bolting Trump. Four electors in Washington and four in the District of Columbia pledged to Clinton voted instead for other candidates.

Democrats and others on the left have since criticized the Electoral College system, saying it undermines the principle of one vote for each individual and that the system, laid out by the U.S. Constitution, is antiquated.

In remarks before votes were cast, Oregon Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins said this year’s election was “historic” and that the election process came under “unprecedented challenge and criticism.”

“This has continued into the post-election period,” Atkins said. “The nation has been roiled by a significantly greater debate than usual over the appropriateness of the Electoral College process in our modern age and over the obligations of those chosen as electors.”

Atkins voiced confidence in the state’s voting system and Oregon’s election results.

Dixon said after the ceremony that he and the party intended to “get their foot in the door” to preserve the possibility of further inquiry when it came to possible Russian interference in the election, and to take a closer look at “legal issues involved” in the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection clause.

“I’m not a Constitutional scholar,” Dixon said. “I don’t know what the outcome would be of any legal challenge, but it’s simply, if we can preserve the record rather than remaining silent, and just say, state our objection, it may be a way to allow further inquiry…it’s nothing more than that at this stage.”

Despite Trump’s likely victory and the Democratic Party of Oregon’s objections, Dixon said that he hoped that he and his fellow electors were “preserving democracy” by participating in the Electoral College process.

“…We’re, hopefully, preserving democracy by following in the requirements of the Constitution, what we pledged to do,” Dixon said. “I think there’s a purpose in and of itself, to participate.”

Protesters stood outside the Oregon Capitol before the ceremony holding signs and singing songs.

Martha Perkins, who came up to Salem for the protest from Corvallis, said she was aware that Oregon’s electors pledged to vote for Hillary Clinton, but that she was there at the Capitol as an act of “national solidarity.”