Turkish politician selected as delegate of US electoral college for first time

TRENTON

A Turkish politician living in the U.S. state of New Jersey has become the first Turkish-American to be appointed on behalf of the Democratic Party to the United States Electoral College, a group of presidential electors.

Derya Taşkın will participate as one of the delegates when the 538 electors of the U.S. Electoral College cast their official votes for president and vice president on Dec. 10.

The U.S. Electoral College consists of 538 electors who are selected at the state level every four years for the sole purpose of electing the next U.S. president and vice president.

Of those 538 electors, an absolute majority of 270 or more electoral votes are required to elect the nation’s next president.

Expressing her happiness on becoming one of the delates of the U.S. Electoral College, Taşkın said that it made her proud for all the efforts and years of work done in the Democratic Party.

Taşkın has shared the information that 14 delegates, including her, will officially cast their votes for the president-elect Joe Biden and the vice president-elect Kamala Harris in Trenton, the capital city of the state of New Jersey.

Taşkın is a businesswoman who had served as the deputy mayor of Paterson, one of the largest cities of New Jersey and a county that is home to the largest Turkish-American immigrant community in the U.S.

She is also an executive committee member of the National Coalition of Turkish-American Women Political Action Committee.