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Published December 14, 2008 12:11 am - Bobby Cleveland gets to vote for president one more time.
Cleveland, a Slaughterville resident, is one of Oklahoma's seven presidential electors. Next week, he will join six of his fellow Republicans when they vote -- as members of the Electoral College -- for Republican John McCain.


The good and the bad of the Electoral College


By M. Scott Carter

Bobby Cleveland gets to vote for president one more time.

Cleveland, a Slaughterville resident, is one of Oklahoma's seven presidential electors. Next week, he will join six of his fellow Republicans when they vote -- as members of the Electoral College -- for Republican John McCain.

"It's pretty exciting," he said. "I've never done this before. It's a new experience for me."

The actual vote, he said, will take place at the State Capitol.

"The signing is Dec. 15 at the governor's office," Cleveland said. "Each elector signs a document, then the governor signs it."

Once they vote -- for both president and vice president -- and the documents are finalized, they are taken via special courier to Washington, D.C., and presented to Congress.

After the votes are counted, Cleveland said, the documents are archived at the Library of Congress.

"I may take my grandkids," he said. "It's pretty cool to think that something with my signature on will be stored permanently in the Library of Congress."

Yet while Cleveland said he's excited by the opportunity to make history, other Oklahoma electors are calling for reform in the process.

Tim Mauldin, a Norman resident on the Oklahoma City University faculty, said it's time to change the Electoral College system.

"For many years, and especially following the presidential election of 2000, much thought and attention have been given to changing the Electoral College," he said.

Mauldin, who was selected as one of the state's seven Democratic presidential electors for 2008, said Oklahoma is being ignored in presidential campaigns because it's "not a large state and it's not a 'battleground' state."

Mauldin said he endorsed earlier attempts by former Governor Henry Bellmom to change the system.

"Henry Bellmon came to understand that changing the Electoral College was the right thing to do for the country and also for Oklahoma," Mauldin said. "I fully support the idea of one person, one vote; so I agree with Senator Bellmon that there should be a direct popular vote for the presidency."

Currently presidential electors in each state and the District of Columbia are members of the Electoral College. Under the U.S. Constitution, the 538 members of the Electoral College actually select the president and vice president.



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