This presidential elector will vote her conscience in Electoral College

As Presidential electors, we have the Constitutional right to vote our conscience and the responsibility to unify behind the best person for the job when the Electoral College officially meets on December 19.

Though we come from different generations, as a retired elected official and the youngest 2016 Elector, we agree with millions of Americans that Donald Trump is unfit to be president.

{mosads}In Federalist 68, Alexander Hamilton tells us why the Founding Fathers created the Electoral College: to prevent an unqualified demagogue who is under foreign influence from taking over the nation’s highest office.  

Trump fails the Founding Fathers’ three part test for the presidency — he is unqualified, he is a dangerous demagogue, and he cannot prove his independence from foreign nations. 

This means Trump as commander-in-chief is a clear and present danger to national security, and he will likely do permanent damage to the Bill of Rights, if inaugurated. Men like him are why the Electoral College exists as a Constitutional check and balance against popular, but unqualified, leadership for our country.

Therefore, in order to uphold our sworn duty to preserve the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, we have been organizing electors across the country to reject Trump at the Electoral College and replace him with a responsible and qualified alternative.

This has been the most divisive election in modern history. However, we still have an opportunity to end 2016 with a statement to the world that America is united and strong behind a new leader that We the People can all call our President

The best person for the job of President is clearly not Donald Trump. Experienced and qualified public servants like Gov. Jon Huntsman, Gov. Mitt Romney, Sen. John McCain, Sec. Condoleezza Rice, Gov. John Kasich, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, or Sec. Colin Powell would all be equipped to handle the responsibilities of the Oval Office, whereas Trump is simply not ready to lead on Day 1.

Electors of good conscience should exercise their Constitutional right to elect the best person for the job of President or simply abstain from voting for either of the major party candidates.

If no candidate gets to 270 Electoral College votes, then the decision will go to the House of Representatives, as it has happened twice in our nation’s history.   

Many of our fellow Republicans agree, and as one elector from Texas, Art Sisneros, recently said, “If Trump is not qualified and my role, both morally and historically, as an elected official is to vote my conscience, then I can not and will not vote for Donald Trump for President. I believe voting for Trump would bring dishonor to God.”

At this critical turning point in American history, the best leader for our country is someone who has been called upon by the people to lead, rather than someone who follows their ambition to gain power and rule over us all. 

Our first President George Washington was a reluctant leader and did not seek power. He was called out of retirement because he was the best person to unite the country at that time and to preserve the republic to future generations of Americans.  

Who is that person today? Who will be that unifying candidate? When you come forward, know that you will have our support and the support of hundreds of electors at statehouses across the country on December 19th. 

It is time to put to put party aside and to put America first. So we are encouraging Electors from both red and blue states to answer our Founders’ call, deliberate, and unite behind this alternative “Hamilton Candidate,” whether a Republican, Democrat, or Independent.

We take our oath to preserve and defend the Constitution seriously, which is why we’re willing to use the tools that it gives us to defend our country and it’s future.

Polly Baca (D) is a former state senator from Colorado. Levi Guerra is a Democrat elector from Washington state, who will be casting her vote for an alternative Republican candidate in the December 19 Electoral College.

The views of Contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill