State electors prepare to cast historic votes
Toolbox
By Daniel Barlow Vermont Press Bureau - Published: December 12, 2008
MONTPELIER – They may be doing nothing more than taking an oath of office and signing a few pieces of paper. But when Vermont's three electors cast their ballots for President-elect Barack Obama next week, it will mean a lot more.
Electors in all 50 states will cast their votes for U.S. president and vice-president Dec. 15 and here in Vermont, three Democratic Party members will meet for a low-key, early morning session at Montpelier's Statehouse to make history.
These events typically attract little attention, but with the Democratic Party winning the presidential election after eight years of Republican control, coupled by the historic nature of the selection, don't be surprised if there is a little cake and juice afterward.
"It's a tremendous honor to do this," said Sen. Claire Ayer, D-Addison, the only lawmaker among the three electors. "For me, it feels very patriotic."
Ayer, 60, a resident of Weybridge, will join 56-year-old Euan Bear of Bakersfield and 58-year-old Kevin Christie of Hartford as Vermont's three electors next Monday in a brief ceremony that ends with them signing official documents certifying the release of Vermont's three Electoral College votes for Obama.
"I hear they are planning on having tea and cookies afterward and maybe a photo op," said Christie, a former member of the Vermont Human Rights Commission who ran for state representative earlier this year. "I think the whole event may feel a little different than it has in years past."
Electors are chosen by members of their political party at its convention, but this year the selection came about in a different manner. Bear suggested – and party members approved of – an idea to nominate electors from the floor and to elect the three through a form of instant run-off voting.
"Usually we are presented with a platform of candidates who we approve," Bear said. "I wanted something that came more from the grassroots." Bear, a Vermont journalist and former editor of the Out in the Mountains monthly, said she was in high school during the civil rights era and sees Obama's election as a "big step forward for equality."
"It's not erasing racism, but it is a huge leap forward," she explained.
The U.S. Constitution sets up the Electoral College system of electing the new president – a system that is based on winning enough state's popular votes to add up to at least 270 electoral votes – and that document also dictates some of the responsibilities of electors.
The Constitution states that electors may not include anyone elected to the U.S. Senate or House and notes that anyone who aided in the insurrection or rebellion against the country is ineligible to serve.
Vermont is also one of 26 states in the country with a law requiring the electors to support the winner of the popular vote in the state's general election. In those other states, electors traditionally follow the popular vote, although there have been some protest votes over the years.
The agenda for Monday's session is short and simple: The oaths of allegiance and office are administered, the electoral officers cast the ballots for president and vice-president, they sign certificates of vote and electors and finally they sign the minutes of the meeting.
"I think the whole event lasts maybe seven minutes," said Kathy DeWolfe, the director of elections and campaign finance for the Vermont Secretary of State's Office.
Christie, 58, said he "welled up" when he was nominated by other Democrats to be an elector and he "felt humbled" when he was elected. As a Vermonter of color, he said he didn't think he would see the day that the country would elect a black president – let alone that he would have a role in it.
"I wish my parents were alive to see this," he said. "This is history unfolding before us."
Four years ago, Paul Highberg of Woodstock, a frequent campaign contributor to the Vermont Democratic Party, was one of the three electors casting their Vermont ballots for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who had lost that race against incumbent President George W. Bush.
When asked about casting those three Kerry votes, Highberg said it "was pretty simple."
"We went up to the secretary of state's office, cast our votes and then that was it," he said.
The electors will meet at 10 a.m. on Dec. 15 in Room 11 at the Statehouse in Montpelier.
Contact Daniel Barlow at Daniel.Barlow@timesargus.com.
3