Comments on: Alabama’s 9 Electoral Votes

By: PJ

PJ — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:59:20 +0000

this is the second day I have been searching for information on how alabama electors are chosen. I just wanted to say thanks for sharing your knowledge

By: Cam Ward

Cam Ward — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:32:01 +0000

Katie, the founding fathers actually contemplated that. Let me give an example as to why we don’t— in 1992, 1996 and in 2000 no presidential candidate received 50% of the vote because of 3rd party ballot status. So if you were to allocate electors based upon percentage of the vote as opposed to state by state in those elections I just mentioned no one would have a majority of the electoral votes therefore the US House of Representatives would have to chose the next President of the United States. That is a scenario that would have occured many times in our country’s history and I don’t think anyone wants congress picking the president unless it is absolutely necessary.

By: katie

katie — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:26:47 +0000

Why not split the electors votes according to the percentage of the votes won for the state(such as dem. 7 and the rep. 2), that seems the most fair way of doing so. Then the vote would really count.

By: Pam

Pam — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:35:30 +0000

Mr. Ward…thank you for this website. It has been the most informative I have found tonight. I teach 6th grade and we are dedicating this week to the study of electing our President. Who is the “State Executive Committee?” How do you become a member of this committee and what purpose does it serve? (What are the duties of its memebers?)

We are looking for answers to all the questions asked by deb. My class is very curious about the Electoral College. Their first response when we conducted a KWL was….”It is a place where the President goes to learn to be the President.” :)

As a member of the “Executive Committee,” could you possibly work on a website that makes this information more accessible? The lack of available information on Alabama’s Electors lends itself to the appearance of being somewhat “cloak and dagger.”

By: Cam Ward

Cam Ward — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:05:42 +0000

Ummm actually you are wrong here. Only three times in American history has the popular vote been different from the electoral college and on two of those occasions it was a Democrats who won. On another note during 2004 Bush won the popular vote and electoral college. In 2000 Bush won the electoral college vote but not the popular vote. His election that year was the first time since the 1876 that someone who won the popular vote did not win the electoral college.

By: kidcharlemagne

kidcharlemagne — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 04:24:21 +0000

the past two elections the democrats won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote, its obvioulsy a BS system but they dont trust the public to be smart enough to vote right, they consider the majority of us naive and beneath them, they just like to let us think we have some say; its a very crooked system

By: Cam Ward

Cam Ward — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:56:13 +0000

Hmm. Good question. I know that three of the nine are myself, Matt Fridy of Montevallo and Jim Wilson of Montgomery. I don’t know the other six but the State GOP HQ in Bham will have the answers for you. The State Democrats are in Montgomery so they will have the answer at the HQ there. Sorry I cannot be of more assistance to you on this.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:43:48 +0000

Who are the nine people who were elected to cast an electoral vote in your group? I have looked hard to find it somewhere else, and need to get it for a class project? If you could provide their full names I would greatly appreciate it thanks.

By: Cam Ward

Cam Ward — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:45:01 +0000

The way it works in Alabama is that the State Executive Committee accepts nominations from the floor during our annual meeting. Every state has the same number of electors as they do representation in Congress. So we have 9 (7 coungressional districts plus two senators). After all the nominations are made then they are voted on by the committee. There has to be one person from each congressional district and two at-large delegates. I am at large. There is really no requirement to be nominated and elected except that under the US Constitution you cannot be a federally elected official and you must be old enough to vote. Also, when it comes time for the 2012 election each party selects a whole new slate of 9. Most of the time you just do this once since it is an honorary thing and other people also would like the chance to get to do it once as well. I was nominated because I had been on the state executive committee for a while and I guess it kind of becomes your turn in the rotation! Also, since the State of Alabama has not voted Democrat since 1976 the odds are pretty good it will vote Republican again so hopefully I will be one of the 538 elector votes during this election. Feel free to ask any other questions you may have about this issue.

By: deb

deb — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:18:26 +0000

Dear Cam,

Who are the 9 Electors for the GOP in AL?

Who nominated you and/or the 9 Electors to be chosen by The State party Executive Committee, did you apply or were you and the others selected from a roster of Registed Republican Voters, do you hold a seat of some sort, are names drawn?

How were you and/or the 9 chosen?

When were the Electors chosen?

Will there be a new set of Electors in 2012?

I became a registered voter in 2004, and voted.
I have never been political before, but the last election and this one has held my interest.

I appreciate your sharing your political knowledge with me.

Thanks,
deb

By: Cam Ward

Cam Ward — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:30:49 +0000

Deb, every state uses pretty much a the same process with a few variations in selecting their electors. In Alabama, each party selects who will be their nine electoral votes. So the Democrats have 9 people, the Republicans have 9, the Libertarians have 9 and Ralph Nadar will actually have 9. Whoever wins the popular vote in Alabama then their 9 will actually be the ones who cast their vote on December 15th for President. So if McCain wins I will be one of the 9. If Obama wins it is a totally different group voting. This ensures your state votes with the popular vote winner. The State Party Executive Committee (which for the GOP is like 395 people) select our electors and the Democrats do the same. Hope this is helpful to you. Oh and also in Alabama we are required to sign a pledge saying you will vote your candidate if you are an elector so you cannot just go out and make up whoever you want to vote for- the so-called faithless elector.

By: deb

deb — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:55:52 +0000

Am I understanding the election process correctly?

The people (general population) vote on
Nov. 4, 2008….either Republican or Democrat…
Then the 9 Electors ( you being one I assume )
will then cast your vote accordingly to which ever party gets the majority vote by the general population???

So if the Republicans, say have 55%, then the 9 Electors cast their vote for the Republican Party (McCain/Palin)?? Is this correct?

Who? – How? – When? are the 9 Electors chosen??

Thank you for your reply.
deb

By: Cam Ward

Cam Ward — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 04:31:20 +0000

Yes, the way the law works in Alabama is every candidate who is on the ballot has their own slate. So the Democrat Executive Committee selects their 9 electors and the Republican Executive Committee which made up of about 390 people selects their 9. This year I think the Libertarians, and Ralph Nader also get to put up a slate of 9 each as well.

By: Billy Hinson

Billy Hinson — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:31:31 +0000

Please tell me exactly how you and other electors are chosen. I assume you are chosen by the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Alabama.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:40:14 +0000

That’s only because you have no respect for the federalist system, Gov2010.