The Portland daily press., 1878-03-19
Presidential Elections.
The Mode OF Cho ,sing the President Of
the United stntes.-A New plan Pro-
posed.


Ii is all-importaut that the vote of the peo.
pie for the President and Vice-President should
result In their election, and not simply in In
dicaiiDg several candidates for these Offices to
be elected by Congress-; for there the election
passes into the hands of a body of politicians,
comparatively few In number, arranged In hos
till parties, and having SO heavy a stake in the
result, as to be strong temptation to fraud,
deception and corruDt combinations to sscure
their ends aud thwart the will of the people.
The ficulty of establishing safe and just
principle for conducting and determining the
election in such a body-and our present
arrangements for this are surely defective
enough-the contention and strife accompany
ing it,reyerberated through the land by political
speakers aud ue wsp apers. and the general dis.
satisfaction and distrust which are sure to follow
make anelection of the President by Congress an
evil to be avoided by ali possible means. That
then, is the best mode of taking the popu-
lar vote for the President which IS the most
likely TO terminate in election, while it Sc
cures fair EXPRESSION of the popular will, and
disturbs as l'tile as may be established usages
and prlDclp.es of government Such a mode as
this 1t seems TO me, woUl be provided BY slg bit
change in the first part of the clause ia the
Constitution requiring the choice of electors of
the Pres dent Thus:
Each state shall appoint number of cleo.
tors equal to the number of Senators and Rep
resentsttves to which it is entitled in Congress,
By votiog Tor them on a ticket arranged as
Representatives aud Senatorial electors with
numbers attached TO the names of the former,
corresponding to the numbers of the several
Congressional Districts. And a majority in
any district shall elect that person eectOr, the
number attached to whose name on the ticket
which secures the majority, corresponds to the
number OF the district; and majority 10 the
whole state shall elect the two senatorial elect
ors on the ticket which secures that majority"
This retains the electoral college just as it
sl~ays has been, and preserves even the es-
tablshed method of voting by general ticket,
merely limiting each State to the particular
form OF ticket here prescribed, which, except
in regard to the arrangement OF the list of the
electors, is the form universally adopted by the
States. AT the same time this particular ar
raugemeut Of the ticket secures all the advan-
tages of district voting, and the representation
In the general result of district majorties.
The ticket prescribed is general ticket, puri-
fed of all its uufairness and injustice, by
being arranged on new principle, which has
hitherto appeared unattainable. And by null
tiplying the number OF variable elements
in the election, through the representation of
local majorties, it makes the general result
more unsuitable to fraudulent forecast, and
the issue less likely to be perverted by artificial
and corrupt means from TIE purpose of the
people; by dividing the result closer and more
diverse scrutiny is secured.
Iventure, therefore, to mmend this mode
as an improvement on any which have been
suggested. And perhaps requiring this partic-
ular form of the electoral ticket in the different
states would rot be considered 80 important a
in the manner of the election, as to re-
quire constitutional amendment, but might
be effected by direct act of Congress.