SALEM – With little fanfare and no unexpected twists, Oregon’s delegates to the federal Electoral College on Monday cast the state’s seven votes for Democratic presidential runner-up Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

The scene in the Oregon House of Representatives chamber was echoed in state Capitols across the country – although not necessarily as quietly.

The tallying of the electoral college votes, on the Monday following the second Wednesday of December, marks the official end of the presidential race, but the specter of lawsuits alleging voting impropriety still linger in Ohio in the aftermath of this year’s grueling election.

Roughly 100 protesters gathered on the Capitol steps for a spirited rally prior to Monday’s ceremony, hoisting signs and demanding a national recount. But the group, which watched from the upstairs gallery, did not disrupt the Oregon proceedings.

The state’s entire allotment went to Kerry and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards, under what is a winner-take-all system for divvying up electoral votes, the arcane system that decides the presidency.

The votes were a formality and the result a foregone conclusion: The public has known since Nov. 3 that President George W. Bush narrowly won a second term with 51 percent of the popular vote.

It requires 270 electoral votes to win the presidency, and Bush collected 286 to Kerry’s 252.

The mood was decidedly somber among the state’s delegates – all of them appointed by the Democratic Party.

It would have been more festive if voters nationally had elected Kerry, said Paul Zastrow, a retired Hood River teacher and the delegate appointed to represent the state’s vast 2nd Congressional district, which includes all counties east of the Cascades.

”It would have been nice to win but at least in Oregon, Kerry and Edwards were the winning side,” he said.

The sum of each state’s electoral votes is equal to its number of members in Congress – both Senators and Representatives – and those seats are divvied up based on population. Every state has at least three, and California has the most with 55 of the total 538.

Each political party appoints its own delegates before the election.

Oregon Chief Justice Wallace Carson Jr. swore in the seven before they cast their ballots.

The master of ceremonies was Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, who oversees the Elections Division and used the podium as a chance to thank voters for Oregon’s high turnout. More than 1.8 million people voted – accounting for 86.5 percent of those registered, he said.

Tallying up the seven paper ballots, he joked about complaints about paperless digital voting elsewhere.

”These paper ballots are really easy to read,” he said.

State law says delegates are bound to cast their votes for the state’s victor, and Zastrow said he didn’t have any second thoughts about voting for Kerry – even though the 2nd Congressional District overwhelmingly voted for Bush.

”I’m very proud to vote the appropriate way for the Kerry-Edwards ticket,” he said.

James Sinks can be reached at 503-566-2839 or at jamess@cyberis.net.