Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1875-01-25
The Proposed Amendment q % the Con-
sfifufiOn

The subject of the amendment to the Con-
StitUtion relative To the matlIOi of eIecting
the President and Vice President. proposed
by the Senate Committee on Privilege, and
Elections, which comes up again this week
~ the Senate for discussion. j. one on which
there ought to he no material difference OF
opinion between political parties In pre-
Senting the matter last week Mr.. Morton
made very forcible argument in favor OF
the amendment. which substitutes an cleo
ton direct by the people for tha electoral
system Hitherto followed. He showed that
various methods have been adopted by the
states al different times in the choice of cleo
tOrS. the consultation formerly placing the
election under the control Of the state legiS-
latureS. and only rcSorviug the right to name
the day on which tire ClectOr, shall give their
votes. All the states have now provided for
choosing electors by general ticket. by vote
Of the people. and the vote OF a state is cast
by the electors receiving 2 majority of votes
No state has provided any method for con
testing the election Of electors. and even
though frauds Of the most gIariHg deScrip-
ton occur. there is no power to prevent the
electors certified by the state authorities
from casting the vote Of the state. This i
grave omission. which seems to- have been
overlooked by the trainers o. the COnSti-
tuition. When the two Houses Of Congress
come together on the counting Of the electo-
raj vote they are present simply a. witnesses.
and whatever the wrong il visible on the
face of the returns, they can do nothing. In
case OF two sets OfelectOral votes. sole diScre-
ton in the matter seems To be left TO the
presiding officer of the Senate, and there is
no power to correct 10. Mr.. Morton instances
the case Of Louisiana ar the last election
where there We're two sets of papers and
vi
the Vice President. In six different cases in
tic history of the government. the Vice PreSi-
dent himself who counted the votes was
candidate for election. In 1ScT5. for instance
Van Buren, opened and counted the votes ami
declared himself elected President. and i'm
1861 Breckenridge counted the votes. he being
a candidate for President. Under the present
system the election becomes an election by
states and not by the people, and, since it al
lows minority to elect a President. is there
fore anti-republiCan and anti-demOcratic
-Four Presidents. among them Mr.. Lincoln
have had less than "a majority of the popular
vote. IL appears from the carefully prepared
statement presented by Mr.. Morton that the
electoral college has never come within ten
per cent. OF representing the popular vote. and
that in many cases ii has differed from tmOre
than thirty per cent Another dangerous as
pect Of the present system i in accepting or
rejecting the vote Of any state II objection
il made TO counting the vote of any state the
two houses Of Congress separate, and if they
fail TO agree the vote OF the state il rejected
Thus the vote of any state might be rejected
and the election thrown into the House o.
Representatives. This makes Congress "a
canvas>ing board. which the constitution
never contemplated. The unfairnass OF an
election by the House il that tine vote is by
states. so that New York, with a population
of $500 eco, has no more weight in the eIac
ton than Nevada. with but u, Goa souls each
state having but one vote. In ISL Mr. Adams
was elected President by the House when he
received but one third of the popular vote,
over jackson. who received the largest pop
uiar majority ever east.
These objections are 30 strong that their
force must be admitted by every thinking
person. The great wonder is that we nave
gone on so long under a system so unfair aud
un-repUblican, and 30 dangerous a. To render
a revolution possible every four years-as
Mr. Thurman remarked, not a sectional war,
hut an internecine conflict which would reach
every hamlet i'm the land.