The Van Buren press., 1877-11-27
Method of Eiecting Presidents.

We find the following letter from the
Hon. J. r. Cravcns, NJ. G. from this dis
trict, to the St Louis Republican of the
10Th, the subject Of which is worthy OF
careful consideration
House OF REPRESENTATIVES,,
WASHINGTON, Nov. l6
EDITOR REpuBLIcAN--A few days ago
| sent you copy OF house joint resolu-
ton, proposing amendments TO the con,
stitution, offered by me. This did be-
cause the attention of the whole coun-
try is directed to the subject of the res
oIntion. and iustitably SO, on account Of
the late election for the presidency, and
its results The widespread circulation
Of your paper, and your known zeal and
ability in furnishing food for reflection
to the reading public upon all great
questions afl'ec ing the entire people, IN
my Judgment authorizes me Ill calling
your especial attention to the provisions
Of this resolution, which must be con
sidercd in conf motion with others, by
congress, aad, perhaps, ultimately by the
several states of the Union. 1t will be
observed that by this proposed amend
ment each State is to be entitled to Il
number of presidential votes equal to
the whole number Of senators and repre-
sentatives in congress, and that the cleo
tors shall vote directly for president and
vice president. That the presidential
votes or fraction of n. presidential vote
to which any one voted for in any state
may be entitled, shall be ascertained by
multiplyir G the number received by
such person by the number Of presiden-
tial votes to which the state may be en-
titled, and dividing the result by the ag
gregate vote of the state cast Tor all per-
sons, using for that purpose not exceed
ing three decimal fractions, and provid-
ing that the fractional part of presi-
dental vote remaining after computa-
ton made as aforesaid, shall be added to
the presidential vote of the person re-
ceiving the highest number of votes in
the state. By way of illustration we
will suppose the aggregate vote OF a
state to be 1886, Of which Jones re-
ceives 9,939, Smith 3s,476 and Brown
lis, 8,49l, said state being entitled to nine
presidential votes. Using the method
suggested, and multiplying and dividing
as therein provided, the presidential vote
OF each is as follows
Jones, 0.539
Smith, 2.077
Brown, 6,3s2
But, by adding the fraction remaining,
as above provided, Browns presidential
vote will be 6,3S4, which, together with
the presidential vote of the others makes
whole of nine. This is the gist of the
proposed amendment. There can be no
difficulty in ascertaining the presidential
vote of candidate under this method,
let it be great or small Should this
method Of electing the president and
vice president be adopted, the entire
vote of state cannot be gained by
| fraud, as heretofore. In each and every
state, both the majority and minority
parties have inducements to attend the
polls and vote, since the vote Of each
and every elector has 4 power and be
comes an important factor in determin
ing the result This method popularizes
the election for president and vice-presi
dent almost to the extent of popular
election by the entire people OF the
| country, anusHrtuc sanno titrt uov5
abandon the original doctrine of stat,
sovereignty, whereby each and every
state, great orsmall, was for their sen;l
tors entitled to two votes in the electo
raj college, for tlrese each will be emit
tied TO two presidential r0tes. 1t may
be that no method can be adopted to en-
tirely prevent fraud, but upon reelection
you can at once see that the adoption o
this method would make it less etfectiv,
than as at present it is, and may be.
Your obedicnt servant,
JORDAN f. CRAyENs.