Electors cast votes for President

Monday, December 18th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The Electoral College began casting what should be the final votes for president Monday, with members in states won by President-elect George W. Bush honoring their pledges, including all-important Florida and Tennessee â€” Vice President Al Gore's home state.

One Gore elector from Washington, D.C., broke her pledge by leaving her ballot blank. Barbara Lett-Simmons said it was a protest about the district's lack of representation in Congress.

The focus on the 538 electors gathering in their respective states was on Bush electors, however. In pledged electoral votes, Bush held a scant lead over Gore, 271-267. With one vote uncast, three Bush electors need to switch their votes to throw the election to the U.S. House. If four do, it would give the election to Gore.

Sen. Joe Lieberman discouraged any switchers during a ``thank-you'' tour in Connecticut on Monday.

``Al Gore and I don't expect any surprises. We've certainly renounced any effort to change any electoral votes,'' Lieberman said. He wouldn't say whether they would accept such a victory, laughing and saying: ``It's too unlikely to think about.''

Bush, as expected, got Arkansas's six votes, Indiana's 12 votes, Kansas's six votes, Kentucky's eight votes, Mississippi's seven votes, and South Carolina's eight votes.

Gore and Lieberman got Illinois' 22 votes, Pennsylvania's 23 votes, Vermont's three votes and Wisconsin's 11 votes.

The numbers won't be officially tallied until a joint session of Congress in early January.

During Tennessee's 20-minute meeting, Gov. Don Sundquist's cell phone rang with a call from Vice President-elect Dick Cheney, who was returning a call about Sundquist's thoughts on Cabinet appointments. After the meeting, an audience of 80 cheered and applauded the electors.

Across the country, GOP electors say they're sticking to their promises. ``I wouldn't consider it,'' said Jane Ham, a Bush elector from Nevada. ``I'd have to be completely lacking in integrity.''

But in the last several weeks, an e-mail, letter and phone campaign has sought to persuade some Bush electors to switch, because he lost the popular vote even while winning enough states for an electoral-vote victory.

GOP officials nationwide dismissed the campaign, but some electors said they were keeping watch.

``The Republicans are nervous,'' said Howard Lamb, a Bush elector from Nebraska. ``They're even going to bring us in the day before, put us up in hotel and feed us dinner.''

And though some Democrats have encouraged the wooing of so-called ``faithless electors,'' others have criticized the tactic.

``I think it's unrealistic and I think it would be doomed to failure,'' said New York elector Judith Hope, the state Democratic Party chairwoman, ``and I think it would be a bad way to win the presidency.''

The meetings themselves vary from state to state: some in small offices, others in the grandeur of the legislative chambers. Alaska electors meet at an Anchorage library, while electors in the District of Columbia gather in city council chambers. Most meetings are wrapped up in an hour or less.

Other sessions feature local color.

North Carolina will bring in a high school color guard, while in Montana a student will sing the national anthem. In Alabama, people in costume will be dressed like James Madison and Benjamin Franklin.

``It's a historic moment,'' said Thomas P. Giblin Jr., chairman of the Democratic State Committee in New Jersey, which went heavily for Gore. ``It's part of the tradition that started over 200 years ago.''

For many electors, their votes will mark the end of a very emotional campaign.

``I go down there with a heavy heart,'' said Joyce Savocchio, a Gore elector from Erie, Pa.

``The way it has turned out doesn't leave me a sense of exultation,'' added Chuck Clay, chairman of Georgia's GOP and a Bush elector. ``I'm happy. I'm satisfied. There'll be time for partying at the inauguration.''

Votes are public in most states, while others â€” Minnesota, New York, Indiana and Washington, for example â€” conduct a secret ballot, though the results are made public.

New York's ballots are slipped into a 16-pound mahogany box with a brass latch, from which they're later removed and read out loud. In Connecticut, they're placed in a wooden box made from the oak tree where the state's charter was hidden during colonial times.

Afterward, the results are sent to state and federal officials, with the final national count set for Jan. 5 during a joint session of Congress.

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On the Net:

Electoral College: http://www.nara.gov/fedreg/elctcoll

Federal Election Commission: http://www.fec.gov

About ``faithless electors'': http://www.avagara.com/eâ€”c/ecâ€”unfaithful.htm