I Am Appointed to the Electoral College

If you followed the presidential election you are aware that we don't elect our chief executive by nationwide popular vote. (If we did, Hillary Clinton, who leads by some 1.5 million votes at this writing, would be the 45th president.) Instead, Article II of the Constitution prescribes that each state has a number of Electoral Votes, equal to the number of members in its congressional delegation, which are intended to go to the presidential winner of that state. It may be news to a lot of citizens that those Electors are actual people who formally cast the state's votes for president. It is my honor to share with you that I have been accorded the privilege of being appointed to the Electoral College to fulfill this Constitutional duty. As such, I will be going to Sacramento on December 19 to cast one of California's 55 Electoral Votes for president.

In our state Electors are nominated, according to state law and the rules of the California Democratic Party, by the congressional members themselves. That means that the state's two senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, each nominate someone, and each member of the House Representatives also gets to nominate someone. Our congressional district, the 22nd, is represented by a Republican, so the Democratic nominee for Congress in the 22nd District is given the responsibility of making a nomination. Louie Campos was our nominee in the 22nd. Go here to see my May 2, 2016 blog endorsing Louie's candidacy. Here is how Louie described learning of the process and making his decision:

"I received a letter from Chris Meyers at the state party. The letter was to inform me that as a candidate for federal office and under the rules of the State of California and the state party it was my duty to pick a person to be my representative to the Electoral College. The candidate had to be willing to honor California statute and the will of the voters of California. They were explicit on this point; in fact post state convention this was the only time the state party contacted me personally. I gave this serious consideration and internal deliberation. As I saw it, there were many people in two counties who would be capable of the task and willing to perform the task. Ultimately I chose you, Steve Natoli, because of my respect for you as an educator. I felt you are uniquely qualified to understand the significance of your duty to the wishes of the electorate as well as your duty as a teacher to make this into an opportunity to benefit more than both our individual egos or pride. You will be able to use this experience to help educate and provide context to your subject. In closing, you are also my friend. You are one of the people who helped inspire me to return to school. I know that everyone who is dear to me appreciates that."

As a History teacher it is very moving for me to actually be asked to take a small part in this constitutional responsibility. I will keep you all appraised of the process. In my next blog I'll report on the process from my end of the developments. After the Electoral College meeting on December 19 I'll give a full recounting of that for you, too.