Electoral College set to affirm Obama re-election
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Tradition trumped suspense Monday as members of the Electoral College cast the official, final votes in the 2012 presidential election, a constitutional formality on President Barack Obama's march to a second term.
The rite playing in state capitols involved party luminaries and tireless activists carrying out the will of each state's voters. The popular vote from state-to-state dictates whether Democratic or Republican electors get the honor, but the outcome is not in doubt.
Obama is on course to get 332 votes to Republican Mitt Romney's 206, barring defectors known as "faithless electors." Electors also were affirming Joe Biden for another term as vice president.
Ceremonies around the country had their share of pomp and electors in red, white and blue ties. Wisconsin's electors donned pin-on buttons with headshots of the president.
In New Hampshire, electors supporting Obama signed their four ballots and then certificates that were sealed in envelopes with wax that has been in the secretary of state's office for more than 70 years.
"It's been a long haul for all of us," said state Secretary of State Bill Gardner, alluding to New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary that sparked intense campaigning there for more than a year.
In a rotunda decked out for the holidays, Minnesota's 10 electors called out the name "Barack Obama" one after another in an exercise meant to avoid a miscue that left the state with an accidental faithless elector in 2004. Former legislator Al Patton, who was also an elector four years ago, acknowledged the historical magnitude was less than in 2008 when Obama was elected the nation's first black president. But Patton said he was still honored to be involved.
"This is what we do to elect the president of the United States," he said. "It's a weighty decision."
Vermont's meeting of three electors was witnessed by a fifth-grade class.
"It was an amazing teachable opportunity," said Cindy Tan, a teacher at Chamberlin School in South Burlington. "It only happens every four years."
Connecticut's electors convened in the state Senate chamber and solemnly remembered the victims of last week's school shooting before carrying out their task.
In Mississippi, which Romney carried comfortably, six men chosen earlier as electors met in a small committee room in the state Capitol and cast their votes for the GOP candidate. Well aware they were doing so in a lost cause, they opted for humor. The state's Republican governor, Phil Bryant, joked that Billy Mounger, an 86-year-old elector, probably wished to vote for Calvin Coolidge, a renowned small-government conservative president in the 1920s.
"I'd like to have Coolidge back," said Mounger, a Jackson businessman.
Dissatisfaction was evident in Arkansas as well, where six votes were awarded to Romney.
"I would rather be here casting my vote for the next president of the United States, but Arkansas did all it could do to see that through and I'm proud to cast my vote as Arkansans wanted it cast," said state GOP Chairman Doyle Webb, one of the electors..
The certified tally sheets are on their way to Washington, where Congress will officially count them on Jan. 6. Obama is to be sworn in a couple of weeks later.
The 12th Amendment directs the electors chosen by the states to meet and vote for president and vice president. Each state gets its equivalent in the 435-member House and the 100-member Senate. The District of Columbia gets the other three electors.
With the Electoral College in focus, advocates for revamping the current system seized on the chance to argue for a change guaranteeing the national popular vote winner is elected president. The compact among states would award future electoral votes to the national vote leader regardless of how candidates perform in a particular state. The shift has been approved in nine places and is pending in many others, but it won't take effect unless states possessing a majority of electoral votes ratify it.
Minnesota Rep. Pat Garofalo, a Republican, said an increasingly shrinking electoral college map has lavished candidate attention on a select few states while most are mere spectators.
"The rest of the country gets hosed," he said, adding, "The most important principle here is the candidate who gets the most votes should win and every vote should be equal."
The rite playing in state capitols involved party luminaries and tireless activists carrying out the will of each state's voters. The popular vote from state-to-state dictates whether Democratic or Republican electors get the honor, but the outcome is not in doubt.
Obama is on course to get 332 votes to Republican Mitt Romney's 206, barring defectors known as "faithless electors." Electors also were affirming Joe Biden for another term as vice president.
Ceremonies around the country had their share of pomp and electors in red, white and blue ties. Wisconsin's electors donned pin-on buttons with headshots of the president.
In New Hampshire, electors supporting Obama signed their four ballots and then certificates that were sealed in envelopes with wax that has been in the secretary of state's office for more than 70 years.
"It's been a long haul for all of us," said state Secretary of State Bill Gardner, alluding to New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary that sparked intense campaigning there for more than a year.
In a rotunda decked out for the holidays, Minnesota's 10 electors called out the name "Barack Obama" one after another in an exercise meant to avoid a miscue that left the state with an accidental faithless elector in 2004. Former legislator Al Patton, who was also an elector four years ago, acknowledged the historical magnitude was less than in 2008 when Obama was elected the nation's first black president. But Patton said he was still honored to be involved.
"This is what we do to elect the president of the United States," he said. "It's a weighty decision."
Vermont's meeting of three electors was witnessed by a fifth-grade class.
"It was an amazing teachable opportunity," said Cindy Tan, a teacher at Chamberlin School in South Burlington. "It only happens every four years."
Connecticut's electors convened in the state Senate chamber and solemnly remembered the victims of last week's school shooting before carrying out their task.
In Mississippi, which Romney carried comfortably, six men chosen earlier as electors met in a small committee room in the state Capitol and cast their votes for the GOP candidate. Well aware they were doing so in a lost cause, they opted for humor. The state's Republican governor, Phil Bryant, joked that Billy Mounger, an 86-year-old elector, probably wished to vote for Calvin Coolidge, a renowned small-government conservative president in the 1920s.
"I'd like to have Coolidge back," said Mounger, a Jackson businessman.
Dissatisfaction was evident in Arkansas as well, where six votes were awarded to Romney.
"I would rather be here casting my vote for the next president of the United States, but Arkansas did all it could do to see that through and I'm proud to cast my vote as Arkansans wanted it cast," said state GOP Chairman Doyle Webb, one of the electors..
The certified tally sheets are on their way to Washington, where Congress will officially count them on Jan. 6. Obama is to be sworn in a couple of weeks later.
The 12th Amendment directs the electors chosen by the states to meet and vote for president and vice president. Each state gets its equivalent in the 435-member House and the 100-member Senate. The District of Columbia gets the other three electors.
With the Electoral College in focus, advocates for revamping the current system seized on the chance to argue for a change guaranteeing the national popular vote winner is elected president. The compact among states would award future electoral votes to the national vote leader regardless of how candidates perform in a particular state. The shift has been approved in nine places and is pending in many others, but it won't take effect unless states possessing a majority of electoral votes ratify it.
Minnesota Rep. Pat Garofalo, a Republican, said an increasingly shrinking electoral college map has lavished candidate attention on a select few states while most are mere spectators.
"The rest of the country gets hosed," he said, adding, "The most important principle here is the candidate who gets the most votes should win and every vote should be equal."
The Electoral College needs to go. It is the largest disenfranchisement of voters there is. While I am personally pleased with the outcome of this election, it may as well have only been held in Ohio. And donât even get me started on the fact that it makes it possible for the candidate with fewer overall votes to win.
@Vince009 I guess now would be a bad time to advocate the elimination of direct election of Senators?
Obama won the Election just get the hell over it, There aint a damn thing anyone of us can do about it.
 @Tina Reynolds Feel the same about the kids in Newtown?  We should just "get over" something that we don't care for?
thats not what im saying, sitting here bitching about it isnt going to change Obama being president.
 @last boyscout  @Tina Reynolds So now you have a problem with democracy in general?  Or would you rather we took matters into our own hands and did something about things we don't care for, like the shooter did in Newtown?
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53% of your neighbors voted for Obama. Â You DO have to get over it. Â See a mental health expert if you need assistance. Â
 @last boyscout  @Festivus
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LOL wow man, took a pretty good stretch of fabric to cover the distance between the Electoral College and the fictitious "47%"
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Man angry old white people really don't have any more "bullets" in the gun if they have to go to that tired old lie so quickly.
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And itâs also a little sad to try and equate the loss of REAL potential of many young children in the brutal massacre of them by a nutjob, to the fact your guy didnât win in one of the most fair election systems ever to exist.
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Whatever respect for you I may have had was tossed by that little gem.
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I hope your happy in your angry little world.
 @Festivus If you are proud of the job he's done so far, I'm happy for you.
And what percentage of Americans receive some kind of monetary aid from "the government"? I believe it's ...47%.
The best part of the whole thing? Â At the end of the day, when all the ballots were cast, Romney got 47% of the vote. Â
History is not without a sense of irony.
 @Festivus I like to see the statistic showing the number of Obama voters on some kind of public assistance.
 @last boyscout I'd like to see a statistic showing the  number of Romney voters on Medicare alone. Â
Obama can't be bothered with the problems of the little people. He has a big fun filled Hawaiian sunny Christmas vacation to get to.
 @last boyscout Well, he's into his second term, and if he's going to catch up with Bush's 32% away from the White House record, he'll need to get serious.
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G.W. spent almost as many days away from Washington as J.F.K. spent in office. Â You were complaining about it then, right? Â
 @Festivus I'd prefer all "lawmakers" stayed out of their offices 365 day per year.
 @last boyscout Well deflected, sir.  I'll take that as a "no".