With limited fanfare and even less suspense, Utah's five presidential electors cast ballots Monday for President Bush.

As elections workers carefully checked signatures and sealed envelopes for shipping to the U.S. Senate, Vice President Dick Cheney and the National Archives, Gov. Olene Walker, Lt. Gov. Gayle McKeachnie, Provo Mayor Lewis Billings, Utah Republican Party Chairman Joe Cannon and former GOP State Director Scott Simpson basked in the tradition.

Never mind that the method of electing a head of state is arguably arcane - and sometimes controversial. Utah's electors say the Electoral College works.

"It is part of the process that allows us, a smaller state, to have representation," Walker said. "I hope and trust we will continue to hold the election process as a fundamental part of our democracy. While this may seem like ceremony today, it is an essential part of that process."

In a compromise between having Congress elect the president and a popular vote, America's founding fathers established the procedure in the U.S. Constitution.

Each state's number of votes is equal to its congressional delegation, plus three for the District of Columbia.

Utah voters cast 660,000 ballots, or about 74 percent, for Bush Nov. 2; 241,000 voted for Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.

Utah's electors were picked by delegates to the State Republican Convention in May. Nationally, Bush was expected to get 286 electoral votes, compared with Kerry's 252. The Senate president, Cheney, will open and tally the votes Jan. 6.