David Mulinix, an elector in the Aloha State who wore a lei made of green jade flowers, apparently watched Maine’s Electoral College block Bright before heading to his state’s gathering.

 

Bart Dame, a Democratic National Committee member from Hawaii, wrote that Mulinix was uncertain how to vote until he saw Bright speak about why he tried to hand Sanders an electoral vote.

 

The Los Angeles Times said Mulinix was aware of what happened in Maine and inquired about whether he could vote for Sanders and have it stick. Officials in Hawaii said he could.

 

“So he cast his vote for Bernie” based on what he heard from Bright, Dame said.

 

Bright said that Mulinix’s successful vote for Sanders was “the most satisfying thing for me” in this year’s Electoral College.

 

Dame told Bright in an email that “your vote finally got through and registered on the historical roll” after all, thanks to Mulinix.

 

It was the only vote for Sanders among the 538 cast Monday. Republican Donald Trump easily surpassed the 270 total he needed to win the presidency, with Democrat Hillary Clinton trailing.

 

Bright said that in addition to his role in securing an electoral vote for Sanders, he’s proud of getting many good people involved in Maine’s Electoral College, including the selection of Noah Gardner of Hampden Academy to perform the national anthem and Maulian Smith of the Penobscot Nation to serve as the messenger delivering the votes to the U.S. District Court.

 

The Dixmont farmer said he accomplished what he set out to do. Had he refused to cast his ballot for Clinton, he said, the other electors would have voted to impeach him and would have then replaced him, a move that would have axed his speech from the program that Mulinix saw before following Bright’s lead.

 

“I think people got the point of what I was doing,” Bright said. “And in an ironic sort of way others saw that the Democratic Party was still sometimes not allowing dissent within its ranks.”