Rock the Electoral Vote by Lynn Rebuck Copyright 2008

Rock the Electoral Vote by Lynn Rebuck Copyright 2008 Lynn Rebuck

If you ask me, the Presidential election isn’t over yet.
Thankfully, the campaign ads have ended. Unfortunately, the ads about erectile dysfunction have not.
You may say that I am in denial about the outcome of the election, or you may say that I am well-informed.
I asked Lititz resident Rich Filling for his opinion, and he says I’m right.
And he should know. Filling is the former Commissioner of Elections for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a former member of the Electoral College.
Up until now, every four years I have been forced to admit my ignorance concerning how we elect our president. Several years ago I actually applied for a scholarship to the Electoral College. I ran into a little problem when I tried to arrange for a campus visit. This year, I decided to become informed.
As most of Jeff Foxworthy’s 5th graders know, we, the people, in order to keep our more perfect union running, don’t really elect the President. The Electoral College does that.
But what most Americans aren’t aware of is that the Electoral College doesn’t meet until December 15. So the 2008 Presidential election isn’t a done deal.
We may still end up with President Hillary Clinton. Or better yet, President Palin.
You see, Presidential electors don’t always vote for their party’s candidate.
The first one to rock the electoral vote was a rebellious Pennsylvanian. The year was 1796.
Before becoming a Presidential Elector, Samuel Miles was the mayor of Philadelphia, which was a bustling town that had about three times the population of present-day Lititz.
Miles did not vote for the Federalist candidate to whom he was pledged, John Adams. He voted instead for that gifted writer and inventor of the architectural column, Thomas Jefferson, the Democratic-Republican candidate for President.
Whoa, hold on. Democratic-Republican? What did they have on the map back then, purple states? How did the town crier, Anderson Cooper, who was the son of a designer barrel-maker and an actual cooper during the day, define the states during the evening cry?
Even with Miles on his side, Jefferson was not elected president, but he did receive enough electoral votes to become vice president. If that job had not panned out, he would have been forced to become a political analyst on CNN, the Crier News Network.
Back to present-day politics.
I hope to attend the ceremony at the State Capitol at noon on December 15th to witness our next President being elected by the Commonwealth’s elected electors.
“Nobody ever comes,” said Rich Filling, who twice was the Sergeant of Arms for the Electoral College ceremony. I think it’s time for that to change.
Speaking of change, if you’re not happy with the way the election turned out, it’s not too late.
Contact your state's Presidential electors today. Tell them to Rock the Electoral Vote.
Lynn Rebuck writes a weekly humor column for the Lititz Record Express in Lititz, PA. She is still desperately clinging to her guns and religion. You can email her at lynnrebuck@live.com.