SECRETARY OF STATE RITCHIE PRESIDES OVER MINNESOTA ELECTORAL COLLEGE ASSEMBLY
10 Minnesota Electors Vote Unanimously for Obama and Biden
SAINT PAUL, Minn.―Dec. 15, 2008―Minnesota's 10 Electors today unanimously cast votes for Barack Obama and Joseph Biden for president and vice president in a ceremony held in the State Capitol Rotunda. Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie presided over the ceremony of public balloting attended by Minnesota dignitaries, elected officials, and the public.
The ceremony included the U.S. Army St. Paul Recruiting Company Color Guard. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Brian Krohn, an Augsburg graduate and 2009 American Rhodes Scholar-elect. The national anthem was sung by Tom Tipton, and an invocation was offered by Rev. Peg Chemberlin, president-elect of the National Council of Churches, and executive director of the Minnesota Council of Churches.
"It was a great civic opportunity for Minnesotans to come together to participate and witness American history in the making with the election of President Obama and Vice President Biden," said Ritchie. "The elections of our 44 presidents to-date continue as a dynamic, constitutional process."
Under the U.S. Constitution (Article 2, Sect. 1), Minnesota is provided 10 Electors, a number equal to Minnesota's number of senators and representatives seated in the U.S. Congress. Minnesota currently has eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and two U.S. Senators.
Minnesota's slate of 10 Electors from the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party included: Arthur Anderson of Albert Lea; Bill Davis of Brooklyn Park; Jim Gremmels of Glenwood; Benjamin Gross of Eagan; David Lee of Minneapolis; Matt Little of Maplewood; Susan Kay Moravec of Shakopee; Al Patton of Sartell; Jackie Stevenson of Minnetonka; and Joan Wittman of Saint Paul.
The ceremony marks the 38th time the state's Electors have cast votes for president. Minnesota Electors first cast ballots in 1860 when its four presidential and vice presidential votes were for Abraham Lincoln of Illinois ahd Hannibal Hamline of Maine, respectively.
President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden will take their oaths of office for a four-year term beginning at noon on January 20, 2008.
Answers to frequently asked questions about the Electoral College are available on the secretary of state's Web site homepage at www.sos.state.mn.us.
After an elector voted for John Edwards for president in the 2004 Electoral College meeting, the legislature revised the law as follows: “The elector shall speak aloud or affirm in a nonverbal manner the name of the candidate for president and for vice president for whom the elector is voting and then confirm that vote by written public ballot.” (M.S. §208.08)
Today, in this new public affirmation of their choice, an elector gave the name "Barack Hussein Obama" during the presidential balloting and another used the name "Joseph R. Biden, Jr." for the vice-presidential balloting, while the other electors used simply Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
