Electors, not voters, have the final say

State News

November 4, 2008

Kentucky's likely to be McCain's

By RONNIE ELLIS The McCreary County Record Tue Nov 04, 2008, 11:02 AM EST

FRANKFORT — When the voters in Kentucky’s 2nd Congressional District pull the lever Tuesday, they’ll almost certainly think they’re voting either for Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama for president.

In fact, they’ll choose between Republican Walter Baker, a Glasgow attorney, and Democrat Kerry Morgan, an attorney from Bowling Green. They are electors, chosen by their parties to stand for their parties’ nominees. One of them will join fellow electors in the Supreme Court Chambers in the Kentucky State Capitol at 11:45 a.m. on Dec. 15 and cast their vote for president.

It’s a serious exercise; though in the last two elections, according to Assistant Deputy Secretary of State Les Fugate, there has been a festive atmosphere because Republican electors were voting for the national winner – Republican George W. Bush. That might not be the case this time – “if the polls are to be believed,” according to Baker.

“I’m expecting to be proudly casting the 2nd District’s vote for John McCain,” said Baker, pointing to polls which show the Republican with a comfortable margin in Kentucky. But looking at national and state-by-state polls which show Obama is likely to win nationally, Baker added: “Although it appears it may just be a futile vote.”

Morgan faces the likely opposite scenario – she may not get to participate in the Electoral College, but her party’s nominee may win the White House.

“Based on the polls, it’s unlikely I’ll get to participate,” said Morgan, an Obama supporter who originally supported John Edwards for the Democratic nomination. “But anything can happen. The polls don’t reach people with cell phones and young people and students, who are the ones with cell phones, are going to come out in record numbers.”

It’s time for the quadrennial debate about the Electoral College – what some see as an antiquated system designed during a different era to provide balance between the states which agreed to a new U.S. Constitution and those wanting a more directly democratic system. The college produces 50 separate state elections, rather than a national referendum on who should be president.

Each state has a number of electors equal to its total representation in Congress – in Kentucky, that means six for the House of Representatives and two more for the U.S. Senate. Large, populous states like New York and California have much larger delegations and electoral votes, making them a rich prize for presidential candidates. The system is also the reason, critics argue, that states which are viewed safely in one candidate’s column are bypassed by both major candidates. Neither McCain nor Obama has visited Kentucky since becoming their parties’ nominees because Kentucky is viewed as secure for McCain.

Baker, a former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice, former state representative and senator, thinks the college should remain.

“It has merit in preserving a little clout for small states, and it usually requires presidential candidates to pay attention to the entire nation – to some extent at least,” Baker said. Even small battleground states get visits from candidates in tight elections.

Kerry agrees, although she recognizes shortcomings of the Electoral College.

“I’m a traditionalist and I guess our founding fathers knew what they were doing,” she said. “I wouldn’t be hasty about changing it.”

Most states’ electors aren’t legally required to vote as their state’s voters did. But it is rare for a “rogue elector” to cast his or her vote for someone other than the choice of that state’s voters.

Fugate said some states have passed laws requiring them to vote faithfully, but Kentucky is not one of those.

“We’ve never had a rogue vote in Kentucky – at least in modern times,” he said. It has happened in other states from time to time but has never in modern times influenced the overall outcome.

On the day of the vote, the winning electors gather in Frankfort and after an invocation, roll call and oath of office, they cast their ballots in writing. Usually, a choir is on hand to add solemnity and pomp to the ceremony. It all takes about 30 minutes, Fugate said.

But both first-time electors Baker and Kerry feel honored.

“It’s an honor and I recognize the historical value of the Electoral College,” Kerry said. “Especially in this election.”

RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. He can be reached by e-mail at rellis@cnhi.com.

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