The Vote That Counts

 

Forget November – the election that really matters happens today.

In Texas, not so much, since our electors are committed to voting for the losing candidate, but today is the day that the Electoral College delegates meet to cast their votes for the next President of the United States.

Federal law states that Electoral College voters meet on the Monday after the second Wednesday of December.

Thirty-eight Texans - one from each congressional district and two selected statewide - will gather in the state House chamber at 2 p.m. today to formally give their electoral votes to Romney, who handily claimed a majority in this state.

After the votes have been cast in Texas and all the other states, all the ballots will be sent to Vice President Joe Biden, who will read them to both houses of Congress on Jan. 6, unless Congress changes the date.

The Electoral College is the name given to a group of citizens chosen by "the people" to formally cast the final vote for president and vice president.

The founding fathers created the Electoral College and put it in the Constitution as a way to create a middle ground between letting Congress and qualified voters nationwide elect the president. They also wanted to give every state a proportionate voice in the process.

So they created the college and decided that a simple majority would determine the country's president every four years. Electors now total 538, and a majority is 270 or more.

In each state, two sets of voters are chosen and poised to cast their ballots, depending on which candidate wins their state's vote.  Maine and Nebraska electors base their votes on the outcome in individual districts, but in all other states the electors are selected on a winner-take-all basis. Since Romney won Texas, the 38 Republican electors will vote today.

On Election Day, the Obama-Biden ticket carried 27 states, picking up 332 electoral votes. The Romney-Ryan ticket won 24 states, earning 206 votes.