Meredith Wood Smith
In a ceremony in Salem, Democratic party officials cast electoral ballots for Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden. But first, the group had to replace a missing elector.
Portland lawyer Frank Dixon was out of the country on a trip and couldn't attend the event. So the remaining electors, Oregon Democratic Chairwoman Meredith Wood Smith and the Democratic chairs of Oregon's five congressional districts appointed another Portland lawyer, Roy Pulvers, to cast Dixon's vote.
Electors sign a pledge to vote for the candidate of their party, but occasionally a "faithless" elector will cast a ballot against the winner of the election. That didn't happen today, in spite of the last-minute replacement.
In 2008, a snowstorm prevented Shirley Cairns from attending the Salem ceremony and the group selected Bill Bradbury, then Oregon Secretary of State, to cast the vote.
The ceremony will likely be the last for Wood Smith, who will finish a decade of service as vice-chair, then chair of the party. She cast electoral votes in the 2004 and 2008 elections, and said the ceremony today was a memorable one.
"It just pleases me that I get to do this, the final vote for President Obama," Wood Smith said. "I saw his first inauguration and that really means a lot and that will be a memory that I’ll carry always."
