<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Please explain the election process. My husband says he doesn’t understand why we bother voting because the Electoral College is the one that actually chooses the president.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The Electoral College does indeed choose the president every four years. But it does so based on the votes cast in polling places.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">When voters select candidates in presidential elections, they don’t really vote for the candidates. Instead, they vote for slates of state-level voters, who, via the Electoral College, vote for a candidate.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">In Louisiana and 47 other states the electoral votes go to the party whose candidate wins the most votes; Maine and Nebraska award two votes to the statewide winner and one vote to the winner in each House district.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The U.S. Constitution allocates Electoral College votes based on the states’ congressional representation. Louisiana has six U.S. House members and two U.S. senators, so it has eight electoral votes.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">To win the presidency, a candidate must amass at least 270 electoral votes — a simple majority, or half of the 538 possible votes, plus one. If no candidate secures the required number, the decision falls to Congress.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The slates of electors in Louisiana for the two major parties:</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Democratic Party</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Karen Carter Peterson, at large.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Michael McHale Jr., at large.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">James Kenneth Harlan, 1st Congressional District.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Lisa R. Diggs, 2nd Congressional District.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Stephen Garrison Handwerk, 3rd Congressional District.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Larry Ferdinand, 4th Congressional District.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Bambi Polotzola, 5th Congressional District.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Dawn Collins, 6th Congressional District.</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Republican Party</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Garrett C. Monti, at large.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Steven Scott Wilfong, at large.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Christopher David Trahan, 1st Congressional District.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Lloyd A. Harsch, 2nd Congressional District.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Charles L. Buckels Jr., 3rd Congressional District.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Louis R. Avallone, 4th Congressional District.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Kay Kellogg Katz, 5th Congressional District.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">Lennie H. Rhys, 6th Congressional District.</span>

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<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Online:</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">www.geauxvote.com.</span>

<span class="R~sep~AHeadBrief">News prompts rerun of question, answer</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The state Office of Motor Vehicles’ recent announcement that it would no longer take cash reminded The Informer of a question it answered in July:</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">How is it legal for government offices to refuse to accept cash when it states on all U.S. currency that “this note is legal tender for all debts, public and private”?</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Section 5103 of U.S. Code Title 31 says that “United States coins and currency … are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues.” The keyword is “debts,” which denotes money owed to creditors.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“There is … no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services,” reads the U.S. Treasury Department’s website.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.”</span>

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<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Online:</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">www.law.cornell.edu/uscode; www.treasury.gov.</span>

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<span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">The I</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">nform</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">er answers questions from rea</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">ders each Sunday, Monday a</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">nd Wednesday. It is re</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">searched and written by</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Andrew Perzo</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">, an</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">American Press</span> <span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">staff wri</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">ter. To ask a question, call</span> <span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">494-409</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">8 and leave voice mail, or ema</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">il informer@americanpress.com.</span>