Virginia electors cast historic vote for Barack Obama

RICHMOND

One by one, Virginia's 13 Democratic electors stood in the Capitol chambers of the House of Delegates and voted.

Each stated their name, the congressional district they represent, and the presidential and vice presidential candidate for whom they were casting a ballot.

Barack Obama, and later Joe Biden.

Similar scenes took place in state capitals across the nation and the District of Columbia, as electors formally expressed the will of millions of American voters by picking Obama to be the nation's next president.

Obama's election, which won't be finalized until Congress meets next month to review the Electoral College total, is a historic first in that the former U.S. senator from Illinois is African American.

It was also a unique day for Virginia Democrats familiar with the state's troubled history of race relations and the state's long support of Republican presidential candidates.

"Today, in a special way, we celebrate the slow but steady maturation of the noble human project begun on Jamestown Island 401 years ago," said Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, an ardent Obama supporter.

"We rejoice in the moral power that has bent institutions, traditions, behavior and hearts ever closer to the equality principle," Kaine said. "And we proclaim our pride in Virginia's role as a leader among the states."

Del. Lionell Spruill, D-Chesapeake, who initially was a supporter of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, spent Monday as an observer in a legislative chamber where he normally is a participant.

The 62-year-old legislator said he had thought he would never see a black person become president in his lifetime.

Another longtime Democrat, elector Sandra Brandt of Virginia Beach, was elated to cast a ballot after decades of seeing the party lose the state to Republican presidential candidates.

The last time Virginia awarded its electoral votes to a Democrat was in 1964.

The 13 Democratic electors - one for each of the state's 11 congressional districts, and two at-large members - cast votes on behalf of the roughly 3.7 million Virginians who voted Nov. 4.

President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden won more than 52 percent of Virginia's popular vote.

Virginia's 13 electoral votes helped propel the Obama-Biden ticket past the 270 vote threshold needed to secure the presidency. Obama and Biden are to be sworn in on Jan. 20.

The Electoral College was devised by the Founding Fathers as a compromise between those who wanted the legislature to elect the president, and others who favored a popular-vote method of selection.

The college comprises 538 electors. A state's number of electors is determined by the number of congressional seats it has.

Being a part of that historic process, with roots in America's earliest days, is an experience without compare, said Norfolk at-large elector Michael Khandelwal.

"This is a day that no matter what else I accomplish in my life - I hope to accomplish lots of fun things - this is a significant day and I will remember the moment I woke up until the moment I go to sleep."

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com