Personal Letters - Banerian, M. - States A-M

The collection originally contained 4,569 letters and postcards from all 50 states, including 4,370 letters to Michael Banerian, 151 to Ross Ensign, 1 to another elector in Ohio that was accidentally sent to Banerian, and 47 attachments (articles, pictures or other items). Of the 4,569 total 3,759 were form letters, 85 form postcards. Only a sample of these identical letters was kept. There are 539 personal letters and 112 personal postcards. While a large majority of writers were asking electors not to vote for Donald Trump, 6 expressed support of the Republican candidate. In addition, some senders included copies of newspaper articles to support their request. Because the letter campaign took place in December, a significant number of people also included Christmas and holiday cards along with their New Year’s wishes.

The letters all follow a similar format, acknowledging that the elector position is important and that we are in an important time in history. The letters then typically give reasons why the author believed Donald Trump was unfit to be president. Authors seemed to want electors to make a statement by voting for anyone other than Trump, and many letters contained the phrase, “join the faithless electors.”

The letters came from all 50 states. Michigan comes in second place and sent more letters to these electors than any other state that voted Republican. New York and California – two large states that typically vote for the Democrat candidate for president – rank first and third respectively. Every state is represented by at least one letter, which is a testament to how important this presidential election was to people across America. There were even letters from Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. They were sent by U.S. citizens who live abroad but were concerned for their native country.

Sometimes, the writers provided information about themselves. Some were retirees while others were working people, including doctors, lawyers, and psychologists. There was also students in college and graduate school, and even a 7- and an 11-year-old. Most of them did not ask electors to vote for Hilary Clinton, but simply to withhold their vote for Donald Trump. Most letters highlighted their concerns with Russia’s alleged involvement in the election. Many letters also took issue with individuals Donald Trump had proposed to put in cabinet during the presidential transition, which seemed, to the authors, to contradict his “drain the swamp” promise, as well as his overall fitness for office.

In addition, the collection includes miscellaneous official letters and invitations regarding the meeting of the Michigan Electoral College and the Inauguration of the new president.