Historic City News reported that millions of voters turned out in Florida to cast their ballots on Tuesday, November 6, but they did not re-elect President Obama; in fact, the entire state only has 29 votes in the decision of who will be the next President and Vice President of the United States for the next four years — and that vote is taken today.
The “presidential electors” will convene in the Florida Senate chambers of the Florida Capitol this afternoon to cast Florida’s 29 votes in the Electoral College for the offices of President and Vice President — a process that seems awkward and confusing to many Americans who were told “your vote counts”.
“In local elections, the majority vote wins the seat; that’s not the case in choosing a President,” Supervisor of Elections Vicky Oakes told Historic City News this morning. “That decision is reserved by 538 members of the Electoral College.”
The founding fathers created the Electoral College in order to give every state a proportionate voice in the presidential election process. Although the number of elected representatives in Congress is determined by the size of the individual states, sharing the voting privilege between qualified voters and members of Congress was seen as a “middle ground”.
This afternoon, the “electors” across America will travel to their state capitols and cast the final votes – the ones that truly matter – in the 2012 presidential election. Electors now total 538, and a majority is 270 or more. Once those votes are tabulated, the ballots will be sent to Vice President Joe Biden, who will read them to both houses of Congress on January 6, unless Congress changes the date.
Most voters will never witness the real election; spectator seating in Tallahassee is reserved for credentialed media and invited guests of the electors.
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