Eleven Electoral College representatives from across Tennessee met in Nashville Monday to cast the state’s presidential votes for Republican nominee Mitt Romney and his vice-presidential running mate, Paul Ryan.
Like most states, Tennessee’s votes in the Electoral College are allocated based on a “winner take all” system – which means the electors pledged to award all 11 of the state’s votes to the candidate who received the highest amount of votes statewide in the Nov. 6 general election.
Results of Monday’s meeting of the electors will be forwarded to Washington, D.C., where Congress is scheduled to meet in a joint session Jan. 6 to accept the results from all 50 states.
Tennessee’s electoral votes are determined by its proportional share of the United States population. The electors this year were:
- Jennie T. McCabe of Nashville, representing the entire state
- David Snodgrass of Brentwood, representing the entire state
- Scott Niswonger of Greeneville, representing the First Congressional District
- Joe Bailey of Knoxville, representing the Second Congressional District
- Jerry Sink of Chattanooga, representing the Third Congressional District
- Andy Adams of Murfreesboro, representing the Fourth Congressional District (absent)
- Bob Rial of Dickson, representing the Fifth Congressional District
- Ruth Hagerty of Gallatin, representing the Sixth Congressional District
- Kurt Holbert of Decaturville, representing the Seventh Congressional District
- Annabel Woodall of Memphis, representing the Eighth Congressional District
- Robert Bradley Martin of Memphis, representing the Ninth Congressional District
There were also two alternate electors – D.J. (Daniel) King and Brad Smith, both of Nashville. (Smith filled the vacancy for Andy Adams.)
The Electoral College process for selecting a president is spelled out in the U.S. Constitution and has been in place since the 1780s.