'My conscience is clear’: Georgia Republican refuses to cast his electoral vote for Trump

A Georgia Republican activist and member of the electoral college said on Wednesday that he will withhold his electoral vote if Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump wins the state.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Jim Galloway spoke with Baoky Vu, a tech executive and one of 16 electoral college members who will cast their votes should Trump win Georgia in November.

Vu -- a longtime GOP activist and organizer -- said this morning that he is seriously considering holding back his electoral vote from the real estate mogul and former reality TV star.

“I have the right to vote for a write-in candidate in the electoral college,” he said in a statement. Georgia is one of 21 states that allow its electors to vote independently of the popular vote.

Vu -- who arrived in the U.S. as a child after his family fled Saigon -- said that he has never been "on board" with Trump and that he values his vote too much to "throw (it) away" on the current presidential candidate.

“We hungered for the right to vote. I’m not going to throw that away,” he said.

"As a 2016 Presidential Elector, I am forever grateful to our state Party and our Chairman for bestowing this once-in-a-lifetime honor on me," Vu wrote. "I take my role seriously and in the face of the difficult choice before us, I will always put America First over party and labels."

"Thus, I will not be voting for Donald Trump in the general election. My conscience is clear but my soul is being tested," he said.

"Donald Trump’s antics and asinine behavior has cemented my belief that he lacks the judgment, temperament and gravitas to lead this Nation," said Vu. "Throughout the process, he has hurled insults at our heroes and their families, denigrated the disabled and praised dictators. Forget political incorrectness, this is simply despicable demagoguery."

His statement in full is below:

I’ve been active in the Republican Party for many years precisely because it has championed the aspirational ideals of Lincoln, Reagan and Kemp. Our recent standard-bearers have proudly and honorably defended those ideas on the political battlefield. From Bush 41 to Romney to Jeb and many of the other 2016 primary contestants, there was never a wavering doubt as to their character, integrity and temperament.

Until now.

This is the Republican Party of Lincoln and Reagan and Romney and Ryan, not the Party of Donald Trump. As a 2016 Presidential Elector, I am forever grateful to our state Party and our Chairman for bestowing this once-in-a-lifetime honor on me. I take my role seriously and in the face of the difficult choice before us, I will always put America First over party and labels.

Thus, I will not be voting for Donald Trump in the general election. My conscience is clear but my soul is being tested. Born in Saigon, my family knows what it is like to lose a country and my family is forever indebted to America and our allies. I have never questioned the soul, character and goodness of the Nation by who we have chosen as our leader throughout history.

Until now.

Rather than earning the American people’s respect and trust through the duration of the past year, Donald Trump’s antics and asinine behavior has cemented my belief that he lacks the judgment, temperament and gravitas to lead this Nation. Throughout the process, he has hurled insults at our heroes and their families, denigrated the disabled and praised dictators. Forget political incorrectness, this is simply despicable demagoguery.

“In this time of global challenges, we will succeed only if we come together. We’ve done it before, from the courthouse steps of Appomattox to the days after Pearl Harbor. And to my Republican brothers and sisters in arms, politics should be a honorable sport. Rather than fighting to defend the indefensible, let’s live to fight another day.