Texas Electors Not Required To Vote With Popular Vote

[Schweddy]

Source: Tyler Morning Telegraph

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]AUSTIN - As long as he's breathing, Peter Wrench says he'll cast his electoral vote for President Bush.

But as one of the state's 34 Republican electors, he could cast his vote for Sen. John Kerry, even if Texas voters back Bush.

Texas is one of 22 states that doesn't require members of its electoral college to vote in alignment with the results of Tuesday's election. The 538-member electoral college gathers on Dec. 13 to select the nation's next president, based on Tuesday's election.

Wrench said he and other Republican electors signed pledges before they were selected at the state convention, promising their vote to Bush if he wins the Texas vote.

"There is one thing that could prevent me from voting for Bush and Cheney and that's if I was carried out in a six-foot pine box," said Wrench, who works in the oil and gas industry. "I will vote for Bush and Cheney enthusiastically, even if I did have misgivings of the president. I gave my word and I'm not going to go back on that."

Historically, seven electors have voted against the will of their states, including one in the 2000 election.

It's unlikely to happen in Bush's home state this year.

"We select the most committed and enthusiastic Republican Party activists and I don't have any fear that that would happen," said Republican Party of Texas spokeswoman Alexis DeLee.

The Texas Democratic Party has its own set of 34 electors, which would be used in the unlikely event that Texas selects Kerry for president.

Each state's number of electors is equal to the total number of the state's delegation. For Texas, that's 32 U.S. representatives and two senators.

When Texans vote in the presidential election, they are actually voting for electors already chosen by the president's party. A candidate must garner 270 electoral votes to become president.

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[Schweddy]

Very biased editorial, but if it were in any other state the Dems would start screaming already.

 

[Mantrius]

This is one of the reasons I'm too terribly thrilled with the whole electoral college voting process. If a candidate wins the popular vote they should win, period. The idea that an electoral college voter could vote their own their own agenda just strikes me as assinine, particularly because it removes the meaning of an individuals vote.

 

[LiberalFINGER]

Ah, but don't you see. . . The electorial college is there to make sure we don't make a mistake.