Electors take part in American tradition.Byline: Randi Bjornstad The Register-Guard Four years ago, Eugene Democrat James Edmunson got to cast one of Oregon's seven electoral votes for then-Vice President Al Gore Noun 1. Al Gore - Vice President of the United States under Bill Clinton (born in 1948) Albert Gore Jr., Gore . Despite winning a half-million more popular votes nationwide than George W. Bush, Gore ultimately lost the presidential election. Even though his candidate lost - in the end it's prevailing in the Electoral College electoral college, in U.S. government, the body of electors that chooses the president and vice president. The Constitution, in Article 2, Section 1, provides: "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, that counts, not winning the vote cast by individual citizens - Edmunson doesn't favor changing the country's two-tiered voting system Noun 1. voting system - a legal system for making democratic choices electoral system legal system - a system for interpreting and enforcing the laws . "If we went to using only the popular vote, candidates would stick to campaigning in the big states and probably ignore the smaller ones," said Edmunson, who served in the Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 57,000. The House meets at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem. from 1987 to 1994. "With the Electoral College system, the less-populous states like Oregon have relatively more influence. This may be the only way to make sure all the states have a stake in a national election." Smaller states enjoy proportionally more influence than larger even though Congressional districts nationwide must contain roughly the same populations. But each state has two U.S. senators and at least one representative, no matter how low its population, so smaller states get a bit of a boost. The same holds true for the Electoral College. Oregon, with a population of nearly 3.6 million, has seven electors electors, in the history of the Holy Roman Empire, the princes who had the right to elect the German kings or, more exactly, the kings of the Romans (Holy Roman emperors). , or one per 514,000 people. California has 35 million people and 55 electors, which works out to one per 636,000 people. Wyoming, the least-populated state in the country with a census of 500,000, nonetheless gets three electors, or one for every 167,000 people. Not everyone agrees that watching out for the smaller states is a good reason to keep the electoral system electoral system Method and rules of counting votes to determine the outcome of elections. Winners may be determined by a plurality, a majority (more than 50% of the vote), an extraordinary majority (a percentage of the vote greater than 50%), or unanimity. of electing presidents. Shirley Cairns Cairns, city (1991 pop. 64,463), Queensland, NE Australia, on Trinity Bay. It is a principal sugar port of Australia; lumber and other agricultural products are also exported. The city's proximity to the Great Barrier Reef has made it a tourist center. of Oakland in northern Douglas County Douglas County is the name of twelve counties in the United States:
"When you trace back in history, you can see why they needed the Electoral College, because it would have been difficult to get out information about the vote and then to tabulate (1) To arrange data into a columnar format. (2) To sum and print totals. it accurately in isolated rural areas," Cairns said. "But things are so different now - nobody back then could ever envision a time when we would have the instant access to communication that exists now." Ron Tammen, on the faculty of the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University, calls the Electoral College "antiquated." "It was based on a premise that's no longer true," Tammen said. Besides the geographical considerations, "the founding fathers had questions about participatory democracy Participatory democracy is a process emphasizing the broad participation (decision making) of constituents in the direction and operation of political systems. While etymological roots imply that any democracy would rely on the participation of its citizens (the Greek demos - they worried that the passion of ordinary citizens wouldn't equate with wisdom," he said. Originally, members of the Senate took their seats through appointment by state governments rather than by election, "and they were supposed to be more thoughtful and calm, to counteract the unbridled enthusiasm" of the citizen-elected House of Representatives, he said. That's how the concept of the Electoral College, which consists of delegates appointed by the states, came to be included in the U.S. Constitution. Despite some changes through the years - and hundreds of unsuccessful attempts to reform the system - the practice persists. However, the electoral system in all but two states operates under yet another controversial principle: awarding electoral votes on a winner-take-all basis. In 48 states, the presidential candidate that receives the largest number of popular votes - no matter how close the result - gets all of the state's electoral votes. The District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). , which also has three electoral votes, also follows the winner-take-all rule. Maine and Nebraska divide their electoral votes according to results in their Congressional districts. Colorado has an initiative on the ballot next month that would apportion ap·por·tion tr.v. ap·por·tioned, ap·por·tion·ing, ap·por·tions To divide and assign according to a plan; allot: "The tendency persists to apportion blame as suits the circumstances" its electoral votes to reflect the percentage of the popular vote won by each candidate. Before each presidential election, qualifying political parties in each state choose their electors and send the lists to the secretary of state's office. Although no federal law requires electors to honor the result of the popular vote, some state laws do. In others, including Oregon, each elector elector German Kurfürst. Prince of the Holy Roman Empire who had a right to participate in electing the German emperor. Beginning c. 1273, and with the confirmation of the Golden Bull, there were seven electors: the archbishops of Trier, Mainz, signs a notarized statement, pledging not to cross party lines if called up to cast an electoral vote. Although it's happened a few times in the past, "I can't imagine anyone doing that these days," Cairns said. "People are chosen by their parties to be electors, and it would certainly be the end of that (affiliation)." After voters cast their ballots in the general election, the party that wins the popular vote activates its slate of electors, who gather on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December - the 13th, this year - to vote in separate ballots for president and vice president. In nearly all elections, the presidential candidate who won the popular vote also carried the Electoral College. The exceptions include 1876, 1888 and 2000, when Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison and George W. Bush, respectively, lost the popular vote but prevailed in the electoral vote. The winning candidate must have 271 of the 538 possible electoral votes to become president. Even if the process seems archaic, Edmunson said he felt a surprising amount of emotion at participating in the Electoral College in 2000. "I felt very much a part of history," Edmunson said. "I felt a connection to the framers of the Constitution, that I was actually living the history of my country. It was kind of like finding an old family photo in the attic In the Attic can refer to:
CASTING OREGON'S PRESIDENTIAL VOTES Depending on which political party wins the popular vote in Oregon's Nov. 2 election, one of the following slates of electors will cast the state's official votes for president and vice president in December as part of the 2004 Electoral College. Democrat: James Edmunson, Eugene; Shirley Cairns, Oakland; Judy Sugnet, Salem; Michael Bohan, Beaverton; Moshe Lenske, Portland; Meredith Wood Smith, Portland; Paul Zastrow, Hood River Republican: Donna Cain, Rogue River; Annastasia Pannas, Salem; Gene Whisnant, Sunriver; Jeffrey Grossman, Beaverton; Jacqueline Stovall, Beaverton; Linda Flores Flores, town, Guatemala Flores (flōrəs), town (1990 est. pop. 2,200), capital of Petén department, N Guatemala. Flores was built on an island in the southern part of Lake Petén Itzá and on the site of the , Clackamas; June Hartley, Nyssa Libertarian: Rene Williams, Eugene; Wes Wagner, Aurora; David Yett, Lake Oswego; Carla Shults, Tigard; Dan Fitzgerald, Portland; Harry Tabor, Portland; Edith McDaniel, Astoria Constitution: Lon Mabon, Brooks; Bonnie Mabon, Brooks; James Cropper CROPPER, contracts. One who, having no interest in the land, works it in consideration of receiving a portion of the crop for his labor. 2 Rawle, R. 12. , Newberg; Ernest Forsman, McMinnville; Doug Patterson, Oregon City; Roger Shipman ship·man n. 1. A sailor. 2. A shipmaster. , Aurora; Jack Brown Jr., Grants Pass Pacific Green: B. Elizabeth Trojan, Stuart Sugarman, Jeffrey Strang, Teresa Keane, Hosanna Hosanna (hōzăn`ə) [Heb.,=save now; Psalm 118], an intensified imperative, a cry, addressed to God, particularly used in the Feast of Tabernacles, when prayers for rain were offered. Broderick, Paul Loney, Charles Fall (no addresses provided) Individual (nonaffiliated): Paul Schrader, Corvallis; Arnie Osterhaus, Andrew Reid, Suad Abdurrafi-Hall, Katya Tripp, Natalie Bolton, Jim Lockhart (all of Portland) - Oregon Secretary of State's office |
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