By Marshall Griffin, KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – Missouri's eleven electoral votes for President and Vice President were officially cast today at the State Capitol.
Since John McCain and Sarah Palin narrowly won Missouri's popular vote, the electors meeting in Jefferson City were all from the GOP.
Deputy Lt. Governor Jerry Dowell was one of those electors.
"It's kind of surreal, actually, getting a letter from the Governor's Office to come down and cast my ballot...it's something I've kind of looked forward to ever since I got into politics," Dowell said.
State law gave the electors the option of switching their votes to the Obama/Biden ticket, but they didn't.
"Obviously as an elector, you are not bound to vote for the person that actually won the state, so we could have chosen to change our vote, but obviously I supported John McCain and Sarah Palin in November, and did likewise (today)," Dowell said.
If Obama had won Missouri, Dowell says the electors casting the votes would have been from the Democratic Party.
Each state's electoral votes are scheduled to be counted in Washington DC on January 6th.
Once that's done, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will officially be elected President and Vice President.