By M. Scott Carter
SLAUGHTERVILLE — Bobby Cleveland gets to vote for president one more time.
Cleveland, a Slaughterville resident, is one of Oklahoma’s seven presidential electors. This week, he joined six of his fellow Republicans voting — 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, took place at the State Capitol.
“The signing was 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 it 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 Gov. Henry Bellmon 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.
In Oklahoma, state law requires that each political party select seven electors. Then, whatever candidate receives the most votes in the presidential election is awarded all seven of the state’s electoral votes.
Mauldin favors changing the state’s method of awarding electors.
“Many believe the present system favors less populous states like Oklahoma, but in reality, its quite different,” he said. “Oklahoma has not been a ‘player’ in a presidential election in over 40 years because most everyone presumes the outcome.”
To solve the problem, he said, the state should use a proportional allocation of votes, or use systems similar to those in Maine and Nebraska.
“Maine and Nebraska have adopted an alternative, what is known as the Congressional District Method,” he said. “Under (their) laws, each state allocates its statewide electoral votes to the winner of each congressional district. The remaining two electors are awarded to the candidate who receives the most votes statewide.”
Mauldin believes that change would make the state more competitive.
“Our voters would then have the opportunity to meet presidential candidates and to inform the candidates of our views and concerns,” he said.
Still, despite the debate, for Electoral College members such as Bobby Cleveland, the vote Monday is a chance to make history.
“I ran for the position at the state Republican Convention,” he said. “It was something I always wanted to do. It was a chance for me to help make history.”
