Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1878-05-23
OUR ELECTORAL SYSTEM.
The Proposition to Change it.

AZ Tic OptliillS VI tIlc SeSSlOH cOIllIultce
were appointed in both Houses of Con
gress to prepare plan for the election O
President and Vice President of the Unite'
States. Both committees have met fire
quently independently, and several join
meetings have been held. Both are nov
about prepared to report, although the.
disagree widely upon the matter whicl
they have been considering, and 1t is no
probable they will ever agree upon any
basis. The Senate committee has decided
that it is not best to make any alteration il
the plan of electing President, as it at pres
ent exists. but they propose to provide fO
the recurrence of any such contingency AZ
arose in 1876, and prepare new plan fol
the counting Of the electoral votes. In tht
first place, they will make the highest
court of each State competent to decide
which electors have been chosen. if there is
any dispute. and this decision shall be final
Even Congress shall have no right to over.
rule it, but must count and record the
votes Of the electors whom the State court,
in case of dispute. shall decide to have
been legally elected. This will, of course,
prevent the receipt of more than one re-
turn +, ON a single State, and will deprive
Congress of its judicial power. when there
are two sets Of returns. and will leave Con-
gress only the clerical power to count
such votes as the courts Of the several
States shall declare to be legal.
In regard to the counting of the electoral
votes when they reach Congress, the pro-
cess that will be adopted by the Senate
committee is very simple. The President
of the Senate will simply open the returns,
and order them read and recorded. In case
there are informalities, vote of both
Houses is necessary to cast them out. The
committee will provide tor an appeal in.
case Presidential dispute shall occur
again, but they have not yet perfected this
part of the bill. The House committee
abandons entirely the present system of
Presidential elections, and has agreed to
report xteenth amendment to the Con-
stitution, with several new provisions, as
follows: 4 Presidential term of six years,
and declaring all Presidents Ineligible for
reelection. Each State to be entitled to
as many electoral votes as it has Senators
and Representatives in Congress. The
Of electoral votes each candidate
for President is entitled to from each State
shall be ascertained by multiplying his en-
tire popular votes by the whole number o.
electoral votes in the State, and dividing |
the product by the aggregate popular vote
Of the State for all persons voted for as
President, and the quotient shall be the
number of electoral votes and fraction
thereof to which such person shall be en-
titled. Ten days after election, the return
ny officers of each State shall make re-
urns of the votes cast, and transmit the
;ame, under seal, to the Secretary of State,
" whom they shall, on given day, be
opened in the presence OF the Governor
# the State. the Attorney General, and the
Auditor, or Comptroller. They shall as
ertain and appOrtion the votes as provided
bove, and shall transmit the result to the
PRESIDENT of the United States Senate. Ii
wO or more candidates for President have
n equal number of electoral votes, the
louise of Representatives shall elect one of
heir number as President, each State hav-
lg one vote, and a majority Of all the
tates shall be necessary for a choice. If
here is also tic in the votes for Vice
resident. the Senate shall elect one in the
anne way; and il the House shall fail to
lect a President when that duty devolves
pom them, the person elected Vice Presi- {
ent blythe Senate shall act as President.
Though this plan has been adopted by
ne House committee, the Senate commit ,
,e will never agree to it, and it is probable /,
rat this Congress will fail entirely to
hange the laws regulatin. the election of
resident. IL