Lahser alumnus Michael Banerian, one of Michigan’s sixteen presidential electors, has been overwhelmed by death threats urging him to not vote for President Elect Donald Trump.

“I have been inundated with hundreds and hundreds of emails, Facebook messages, and letters to my house. I have been getting like thirty a day and unfortunately some of those have been death threats, death wishes, and just generally angry and aggressive emails,” said Michael, who currently is the Youth Vice Chair of the Michigan Republican Party.

Graduating from Lahser High School in 2013, Michael is now the youngest Michigan Republican elector in history at the age of 22.

Pamela Williams, Chairman of the 9th Congressional District, explains that in Michigan the only qualifications to be an elector are that individuals need to be at least 18, a registered voter in their Congressional district, a citizen for at least ten years, and not an elected representative or senator.

As an elector, Michael explained that he and Michigan’s fifteen other electors will meet at the state capitol on December 19th to cast his ballot, ultimately submitting the final vote in the electoral college process.

“We [Michigan electors] will formally cast our ballot for Donald Trump for President and Mike Pence for Vice President,” Michael said. “Those votes are then certified by the Governor and then the Governor takes those votes and sends them to Washington D.C. for the Vice President to then officially tally the votes in front of a joint session of Congress.”

However, this year especially, Michael said that being an elector is not as simple as casting a vote. Opposers of Trump have flooded GOP electors with hateful threats demanding that electors refrain from casting their ballots for Trump.

“Some have said things like ‘I’m going to put a bullet in the back of your mouth’ and people sent me pictures of nooses saying if I don’t do the right thing they are going to get me,” Michael said. “I also got death wishes that said, ‘I hope you die’ or ‘go do society a favor and throw yourself in front of a bus’. So it’s some pretty nasty emails and Facebook messages.”

Despite the vulgar messages, Michael says he will still confidently cast his vote for Trump. “In Michigan we actually have laws that prevent faithless electors, and what the law essentially says is that if I attempt to change my vote different from how the popular vote voted in Michigan, then my vote will be voided and I’ll be kicked out and replaced by another elector. So even if I wanted to, which I don’t, I couldn’t change my vote.”

While he says the threats are alarming, Michael has decided to not let them interfere with his position.

“Honestly [the threats] have not impacted me all that much. You can’t let these people get to you and because if you do, they win. So I have just chosen not to get worked up about it. People are going to say what they are going to say and I’ll report them to the police if they’re legitimate,” said Michael.

Michael’s family has supported him through the gravity of the situation and Michael’s older brother, Bradley Banerian, a 2010 International Academy graduate said that “we just wanted Michael to know that he had a lot of people that supported him. We tried to encourage him as much as we could, and commended him for taking the high road throughout the whole situation.”

To ease the tensions, Michael is striving to convey the message to those who sent him death threats that hateful letters are by no means the proper or acceptable way to portray anger.

“I would say first that the results are legitimate, so they need to accept it and understand that this is the will of the American people. I would encourage people to calm down on the rhetoric and be careful of what they are saying. This is how politics works and how our government has always worked,” said Michael . “If you lose, you accept the results and you unite behind your president. You don’t have to agree with everything he says or does, but unite around the fact that this is your new leader.”