Dear Friend and Reader,
CONSIDERINGВ THEВ PUREВ case of the willies everyone gets after the historic and controversial Mercury-retrograde fraught election of 2000,В this is a reminder that the US Electoral College meets again today, as it does every four years,В toВ officially cast their votesВ for the President of the United States.
When we voted on Nov. 4, 2008, like in all other states, we voted for a slate of electors for our stateВ to serve in the electoral college. In the case of California, those 55 electors met today toВ cast their ballot for the office of President and Vice-President. In all but two cases, the number of electoral votes awarded is winner-takes-all. Maine and Nebraska are the only states where these votes are apportioned by actual vote.
TheВ Electoral College is a process, not a place. It is administered by the The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which is the Office of the Archivist of the United States. Think of the NARA as the Price-Waterhouse accounting firm for the Presidential Academy Awards,В reviewed andВ processed anewВ every four years. They are theВ accounting firm for democracy.
NARA’s role is toВ ensure the completenessВ of the states’ Certificates of Ascertainment utilized to identify and document the electors for the President and Vice President of the US. These certificates have the following information:
- names of the electors chosen by the voters and the number of votes received
- names of all other candidates for elector and the number of votes receivedВ В
NARA also assures the completeness of the Certificates of Vote and controls the integrity of these Certificates by limiting the number of people handling the documents. The Certificates of Vote must listВ all persons who received electoral votes for President and Vice President, and the number of electors who voted for each person running for those offices.