Good after­noon from Olympia! Eve and I are here at the Wash­ing­ton State Capi­tol Cam­pus to wit­ness one of many Elec­toral Col­lege meet­ings tak­ing place across the Unit­ed States. Twelve indi­vid­u­als, cho­sen by the Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty, are here to cast votes for pres­i­dent and vice pres­i­dent on behalf of the peo­ple of the State of Wash­ing­ton, who chose Barack Oba­ma and Joe Biden for those posi­tions in the just con­clud­ed pres­i­den­tial election.

The meet­ing will be held in the State Recep­tion Room of the Leg­isla­tive Build­ing. We have just arrived and will be pro­vid­ing live updates through­out the next hour.

UPDATE, 12:02 PM: The meet­ing has been called to order by Sec­re­tary of State Sam Reed. All of the Demo­c­ra­t­ic elec­tors are here, so none of the alter­nates will be seat­ed. The elec­tors (and again, there are a total of twelve) are:

  • 1st Dis­trict: Gri­fynn Clay of Snohomish;
  • 2nd Dis­trict: Dave Gos­sett of Mount­lake Terrace;
  • 3rd Dis­trict: Kath­leen Lawrence of Vancouver;
  • 4th Dis­trict: George Fear­ing of Kennewick;
  • 5th Dis­trict: Rick Lloyd of Spokane Valley;
  • 6th Dis­trict: Gail Kirk of Tacoma;
  • 7th Dis­trict: Maria Ehsan of Seattle;
  • 8th Dis­trict: Eliz­a­beth Sati­acum of Olympia;
  • 9th Dis­trict: Geor­gia Spencer of Seattle;
  • 10th Dis­trict: Har­vey Brooks of Uni­ver­si­ty Place;
  • At Large: Heather Fralick
  • At Large: Alec Stephens

UPDATE, 12:05 PM: Gov­er­nor Chris Gre­goire has just spo­ken, pay­ing trib­ute to Reed for many years of ser­vice on behalf of the peo­ple of the State of Wash­ing­ton. Both Gre­goire and Reed are leav­ing office in Jan­u­ary, end­ing decades of pub­lic ser­vice. They will be suc­ceed­ed by Jay Inslee and Kim Wyman, respectively.

UPDATE, 12:08 PM: The elec­toral col­lege vot­ers have elect­ed at-large elec­tor Heather Fral­ick as the chair for the meeting.

UPDATE, 12:12 PM: Time to vote for pres­i­dent! Each elec­tor is sign­ing their names to sev­er­al sheets of paper, for records of today’s pro­ceed­ings will be sent to Con­gress, to the Nation­al Archives, and kept by our very own Sec­re­tary of State.

UPDATE, 12:20 PM: Wash­ing­ton’s twelve elec­toral votes offi­cial­ly go to Barack Oba­ma for the office of Pres­i­dent of the Unit­ed States of America!!

UPDATE, 12:23 PM: Vot­ing for vice pres­i­dent has begun.

UPDATE, 12:28 PM: Wash­ing­ton’s twelve elec­toral votes offi­cial­ly go to Joe Biden for the office of Vice Pres­i­dent of the Unit­ed States of America!

UPDATE, 12:32 PM: We are almost done. The elec­tors just have to agree to adopt the min­utes and then adjourn. Each elec­tor will pose for a pho­to­graph with Wash­ing­ton Sec­re­tary of State Sam Reed.

UPDATE, 12:42 PM: Sev­er­al of the elec­tors are deliv­er­ing brief remarks putting Barack Oba­ma’s pres­i­den­cy in his­toric perspective.

UPDATE, 12:44 PM: The meet­ing is adjourned. Elec­tors and alter­nates will now pose for photos.

About the author

Andrew Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, as well as the founder of NPI's sibling, the Northwest Progressive Foundation. He has worked to advance progressive causes for over two decades as a strategist, speaker, author, and organizer. Andrew is also a cybersecurity expert, a veteran facilitator, a delegate to the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, and a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps.

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