Nine Colorado electors voted for Hillary Clinton this afternoon, although it didn’t happen in the first try. Under Colorado state law, Electoral College members are required to vote in align with the popular vote. When Michael Baca, an elector and co-founder of the advocacy group Hamilton Electors, instead voted for Republican presidential candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, his vote was deemed illegitimate by the state. He was removed, and another elector was nominated and sworn in.

Earlier that morning, Baca and about 250 protesters gathered on the steps of the State Capitol in Denver to peacefully demonstrate against a Donald Trump presidency and the Electoral College voting process. The hope was that 37 Republican electors would instead vote for an alternative nominee, denying Trump the 270 electoral votes he needed to win the presidency. If this happened, the decision would have gone to the GOP-controlled House of Representatives, which is why Baca and other faithless electors were pushing for a conservative candidate.

Demonstrators filed into the Capitol building to watch the voting process. Shoulder to shoulder, the anxious protesters hummed and sang patriotic songs as they waited. When Baca’s vote was discarded they screamed, “Unconstitutional!” and “The world is watching!” before security threatened to remove them.

In a matter of minutes, a new elector identified by ABC News as Celeste Landry was nominated and sworn in to complete the voting process. Heads hanging low, the protesters left shortly after the final count was announced.

Trump has exceeded the 270 electoral votes to officially move forward with the presidency, according to CNN.

Elector Michael Baca addresses the crowd before he heads into the State Capitol to cast his vote. All photos by Amy Thomson
Kathy Kleinschmidt and her kids Graham Daniel, 12, and Lisette Daniel, 9, drove to the protest from Longmont to voice that the Electoral College is broken
“I have never been so scared to live in Greeley, Colorado,” Claire McCoy, 21, said with tears in her eyes. A student at University of Northern Colorado, she said she has seen an increased amount of harassment towards women and ethnic minorities on campus
“Now we have two Putins—one in Russia and one here, and it’s too many for the planet,” said Dmitri Klein, a Russian immigrant
“I am very concerned about the divisiveness this election has brought on,” Peter Drobeck said. “The acts of hatred need to be controlled.”