Published: December 15, 2008 09:32 pm      

The real election occurred Monday; Obama won again

FRANKFORT — John McCain won another election Monday in Kentucky — for president.

It won’t change the national outcome and it came six weeks after the popular election won by Democrat Barack Obama. But this one counts because it’s official.

Kentucky’s eight Republican electors — Robert Gable of Frankfort, Elizabeth Thomas of Flemingsburg, James Snider of Franklin, Walter Baker of Glasgow, Amy Towles of Fort Thomas, Nancy Mitchell of Corbin, and Don Ball of Lexington — formally cast their votes for McCain in a ceremony in the state Supreme Court chambers shortly after noon.

Secretary of State Trey Grayson noted this is the first time in 48 years Kentucky’s electors cast ballots for the losing candidate. Since 1960, Kentucky has voted for the national winner in each presidential election — until this year.

Across the nation, other states’ electors — 365 pledged to Obama, 173 to McCain — participated in the same solemn ceremony. When voters cast ballots on Nov. 4, they were actually voting for electors. Because McCain won the popular vote in Kentucky, Republican electors cast Kentucky’s eight votes. Interestingly, electors are not bound by the popular vote, but “faithless” electors have never affected the final outcome, nor has Kentucky ever had a rogue elector.

“I believe the Electoral College should be maintained the way it is,” Grayson said after the ceremony. “The Electoral College, although it was founded for different reasons, has come to protect the say that many Americans have in the electoral process. Small states, rural voters have a say they would not have if we had a straight, winner takes all, traditional kind of election.”

That’s because national candidates could concentrate their time, money and campaigns on areas where the greatest number of votes could be garnered — “It would be more efficient,” campaign strategy, Grayson said.

Baker, the former Justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court and former state Senator, also likes retaining the college — he thinks it gives smaller states more influence. Like all but one of his fellow electors Monday, Baker was serving as an elector for the first time. Gable served once previously.

Baker said his great-grandfather, Thomas W. Lisle of Greensburg, was a Whig elector in 1848, casting his ballot for Kentuckian Zachary Taylor. Baker’s grandfather, Judge H.C. Baker, ran as a “Gold Democrat” elector in 1896 but did not get to cast a ballot because his third party candidate lost in Kentucky.

Baker also received several letters in recent weeks, containing petitions questioning Obama’s qualifications for president, citing what the letters claim is confusion over Obama’s place of birth. (The state of Hawaii produced a birth certificate showing he was born in Hawaii.) Two of the letters came from Kentucky and one each came from Oregon and New Jersey.

But those petitioners were wasting their time. Baker and his seven fellow electors were pledged to vote for McCain. No suspense – they did.

“It’s very exciting, just to be a part of history,” said Mitchell of Corbin. “I’ve always been interested in the Electoral College. I just never thought I’d be a part of it. It’s an awesome, humbling experience.”

“It’s great to be a participant in a constitutional process,” Baker said. “I am proud to represent my party and cast Kentucky’s ballot for John McCain. I voted for my man; the other man won, but the country will unite.”

RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. Reach him at rellis@cnhi.com.