Ohio Electoral College casts historic Obama-Biden votes

COLUMBUS (AP) — Electors in Ohio unanimously cast their ballots Monday for Barack Obama for president and his Democratic running mate Joe Biden for vice president.

The 20 votes came at the end of an hour-long ceremony in the Senate chamber at the Ohio Statehouse, the traditional locale of the state’s electoral proceedings.

“Today, we participate in history,” said Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, one of the state’s electors.

Although required by the Constitution and a crucial step in the U.S. election process, the Electoral College vote is normally a sleepy affair that attracts mostly Statehouse staffers and die-hard political junkies. It passes almost without notice.

By contrast, the significance of Monday’s ceremony — the election of the country’s first black president — was obvious just by glancing around the elegant chamber.

Black visitors included the mayors of Mansfield and Columbus, Alex Shumate — a prominent attorney from Columbus who led the search for the new Ohio State University president — and state employees like Valerie Johnson, who just wanted to see a history unfold she never thought possible in her lifetime.

Elector Tamela Lee of Akron, who is black, said the day was so important for her that she felt like John Hancock signing the Constitution.

“It feels so historic and monumental and it means so much to me to be part of this,” said Lee, 50, a former health care administrator who is now vice chairwoman of the Summit County Democratic Party.