The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-11-23
Counting the Vote What Next, and
Kext9

connected with the counting Of the cleo.
toral vote. The whole subject is one of
surprising importance to the Democracy,
who are casting about in every direction
for a means of countcracting any fraudu-
Ic1t action that may give to Hayes the
a,ectnral vote Of Flnrida and Louisiana.
az we'll as of South Carolina.
Throughou. the discussion two points
mist be bono steadily in mind. They
are: /. That one of the candidates for
President must receive 1876 votes, being
"a minority Of the whole number of Elec-
tors appointed" or the election dcvolyes
upon the House of Representatives. 2.
That Governor Tilden has already, be.
yond doubt, 1e4 electoral votes, being
one vote less than a majority of the whole
number of Electors appointed. To OBJ.
tain 1876 votes Go.e-nc. Iayes must Sc
cure the votes of Louisiana, Florida and
South Carolina, which, with the votes
usually conceded to him, would form a
mpiority of the whole number of votes,
and the loss of single vote would be
fatal.
Some persons, we find, fancv that the
Electoral vote is cast by Stat,s. This is
an error. Each State is entitled to "a
number of Electors, equal t. the whole
number Of Senators and Representatives
to which the State may be entitled in the
Congress-" and these electors vote by
ballot for President and Vice President.
Where an Elcctor fails to meet with the
other Electors, on the appointed day, aud
vote for President and Vice President,
his vote is lost, unless the State law gives
the Electors who are present the power
to fill vacancies. In like manner n vote
may be lost by the ineligibiiity of an
Elcctor. Every State, we believe, except
three, has provided means of filling
vacancies in the Electoral College, but, II
vacancy should arise in any of the three
States where no power to fill vacancies is
given, the electoral vote or votes would
be lost One CT the Electors in Vermont
for example, proves to be a postmaster,
who is ineligible Us holding AN Office Of
trust and profit under the United States"
Now, if the laws of Vermont make no
provision for filling this vacancy, there
will be loss to Governor Hayes of one
vote in Vermont, and the loss of that one
vote prevents him from obtaining the
majority required to elect him, although
he should, by hook or by crook, procure
the votes OF Louisiana, South Carolina
and Florida. We do not, at this writing,
know which are the three States which
have failed to provide for the filling of
vacancies, and the danger may be as
great to Governor Tilden as to Governor
Hayes. The position of Governor riiden
is the stronger, however, inasmuch as the
vote of either of the three doubtful
States" will give him Mt least three votes
more than O majority.
Another point is that, in any State, the
whole or part of the Republican or
Democratic candidates for Electors may
be elected; It may happen, for example,
that one Republican candidate for Elec-
other Republi IN candidates. The can
iiids:e. se..:s:ag tie !.:s!as=. :.:.a.sss Ct
votes are elected. One Democrat .night
thus be elected, while ali the other Eiec-
tors were Republicans. In that case the
Democratic Elector would have his one
vote for Tilden, although all the other
Electors in the same State voted for
Hayes.
Another feature of the Electoral Col
lege is that tho Electors, by whomsocver
elected, can vote for whOmsoever they
please, The Constitution knows no po-
ltical party, and the Electors for Presi-
dent and President are as free and
untrammelled as though no candidates
had been nominated or even suggested.
There is nothing to prevent the Hon.
Christopher Columbus Bowen from atom.
ing for the political errors of his past
life by voting for Tilden and Hendricks,
if he shall prove to have been elected
one OF the South Carolina Electors. In
the year 1921 Presidential Elector did
vote against the party candidate. The
Democratic candidate was President
Monroe, who was running for q second
term, In November 1920 the party VAS
successful, und the Democr tic Electors
were chosen TO n man in every State III
the Union, among them Ex-Governol
Plummer, from New Hampshire. The
Electoral College met on February IA
1921, and this vote was unanimous fol
President Monroe, with one exception
To the surprise of everybody, Ex-Gov-
ernor Plummer voted for John Quincy
Adams. The latter, in his memoirs,
says he was surprised end mortified thai
Governor Plummer should have cast his
vote for him. He had thought that, O
all the Electors, none were more certain
to vote for Monroe than Governor Plum
mer. Another writer has averred tina
Plummer's motive for voting against tht
candidate of his party was that he die
not wish to have the vote unanimous fo
any President after Washington. NJ
comment on his action in the papers O
the day can be found. Whatever may
have been his object, it may be safely
asserted that his action provides his
tonic precedent which would be sufficient
ly striking to seriously agitnte candi
date Whose success depended on a majori
" OF one in vote of three hundred ant
sixty-nine.
But if vacancy in the Electoral Gel
iege, or change of vote, should not upse
the calculations of the candidates ther
are other perils to be encountered. Thes
are lucidly exposed i'm the article of tl
New York World, published to-day
The conclusion of the World is that til
Electoral votes cannot be counted,
either House refuses TO be present whe,
lhe day arrives for opening the certifi
Gates and counting the votes Les it b
supposed that the Louisiana Returning
Board fraudulently count ont the Demo
crats and give certificates nf elaction 4
the Hayes Electors. In that case th
House Of Representatives can proven
.ae counting OF the votes, by absentin
aeif from the Senate Chamber on "th
secolli Wednesday in February" and
the House persists in it's refusal tho Uni
ted States will be without o Presiden
alter the Ath of March, 1877, on Mhic1
gay the term of Office 1f President Gran
absolutely expires. There would then b
vaca.cSJ IN the Office of both Presiden
anc Yicc-President, and under th
present Law new election could not b
heia until within thirty-four days pre-