The value is gotten from the select list value on both the user profile page and checkout page. The options look like this (using Alabama as an example):
<option value="AL" <?php if (!(strcmp("AL", ((isset($_GET['valid']))?(ValidatedField("confirm","state_province")):$row_WAATKusers['UserState'])))) {echo "selected=\"selected\"";} ?>>Alabama</option>
You would want to change value="AL" to value="Alabama"
and also change <?php if (!(strcmp("AL" to <?php if (!(strcmp("Alabama"