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You only thought you went to the polls November 4th to vote for a President. You were actually voting for an elector, and in all 50 Capitols and the District of Columbia today, 538 people are casting the official vote for President and Vice President of the United States. The process dates back to the founding of our country, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, the electors don’t necessarily have to follow what voters told them.

Hear it Here: Electors Meet

Their names weren’t on the ballot, but when voters went to the polls November 4th, they weren’t really voting for President, they were voting for electors who are constitutionally charged with electing a president and vice president.

Florida has 27. The number is equal to the number of representatives in Congress and the US Senate.

Each party submitted a list of people to the Governor. Most are party faithful. Two, including Alan Katz, raised substantial money for Obama.

“I was very involved, probably from January of ‘07 on, with the Democratic National Committee and the Florida delegate issues and all those kinds of things,” Katz said.

They include teachers and labor organizers, and local party chairman.

While the electors were chosen by the Democratic Party, they’re not bound to vote for anyone.

The electors include teachers, labor organizers, and local party chairman.

“They are very representative, I think, of the entire stated of Florida, of everybody who worked very hard to see Barack Obama win,” Karen Thurman, Florida Democratic Party Chair, said.

Meeting in the state Senate chambers, the electors, one by one, signed seven copies attesting to their vote. Without them, Florida’s vote would not have been counted.

“Unless we get these certificates up to the Congress, to the House of Representatives, we don’t elect a president. Our votes will not be counted,” Secretary of State Kurt Browning said.

Three times in our nation’s history the winner in electoral votes failed to win a majority of the popular vote.

A joint session of Congress, presided over by Vice President Dick Cheney, will review the results of the electoral votes on January 6th.