The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1884-05-06
The Delegates at Large.

-
The Delegates at Large.
New complications have come to light
Read the following paragraph from The
washington letter Of the Alexandria Ca
zette Of saturday last:
.uisr umored here that the VIRGINIA
J.ecisla,nrc at Its last session failed Ia
,oate the necessary provision for increas-
Inc tho number OF the presidential electors
from eleven TO twelve, 10 which she Is
entitled under the last apporticnment OF
renreseu,ation, aud that special session
nj fbe Legislature win have 10 be called,
or else that State will have b lose an
eIector TO whom she Is entitled"
We have already stated several times
why the Virginia Democratic State Con-
ycntion Of next week should select sir
delegates at large to the Democratic Ns'
tional Convention The above paragraph
furnishes another and convincing reason
namely, that there are but nine electoral
districts provided for by the law 81 Nir-
ginia. Sec Code, page 1913, section D.
which reads:
90 The counties, cities, and towns OF this
Commonwealth shall be divided into hihe
electoral districts" H.
Each veter may vote for one eectVi
from each electoral district, and IN addl-
ton. for TWO electors from the STATE ~
large, making eleven in all"
That is the law OF Virginia, AZ IL stanos
in the Code. But an act OF Congress pro-
yides for the election of twelve electors IN
Virgins. The ReriSee Statutes Of the
United States, \. %. section 1871. fixes the
time fer the election OF electors OF Presi'
dent and vice-President OF the United
States. Section 1S2 tells how many shall
be elected. Ii reads as follows:
"The number OF electors shall be equai
TO the number OF senators and representa-
lives to which the several States are by law
entitled"
Under the law OF the last Congress sp'
portioning representatives ameng the sea-
eral States, Virginia Is entitled to twelve
electors.
II is q clear case that the law OF rh'
United States controls in this matter. Th'
national law, not the State law, fixes TIT
number OF electors to be chosen in Nsrgl
MIA next November. 1t also fixes the tim
when they shall be ckOsen--namely, on tn
Tuesday next after the first Monday in No
yember.
Unless, therefore. the Virginia Legisla
ture be reconvened, and the law Of tht
State be so changed as TO provide for ter
electoral districts, there will be no posi-
bility Of complying with the law al Con
gress except by choosing nine electors from
the several districts. and three from the
State at large. Siuoethere can be no douD'
that the act Of Congress must be held to be
superior to and TO override the act oil
the Virginia Legislature-that is, SC
far as Is possible and necessary-il
would seem to follow that the LIE
gislature must be convened for the
purpose specified, or else there must DC
three electors at large chosen in Virginia
There are but nine electoral districts, we
repeat, and OF course no act OF Congress
provides or could provide for ten, There
lore. 80 Uucu Ol lnc III SiHid Jaw AHuSt
stand. But so much OF the Virginia law
as provides for electing only two electors
at large will be rendered OF none effect
because il comes in conflict with an act OF
Congress providing that twelve electors
must be chosen in Virginia. II there is 0
third way out of the difficulty, it has not
occurred to us.
To-day week the Democratic State Con-
yention will meet. There are only nine
electoral districts. The delegates to Chi
cago must represent electoral and not con-
gressional districts. How, then, can twen-
ty-four be chosen unless eighteen be elect
ed from the several electoral districts, and
six from the State at large?
But it will be said that the delegates to
the last two Democratic National COnven-
tons were selected from the congressional
districts. So they were; but that was
done only because the congressional and
electoral districts were precisely the same
This is not the case now. THE Legisla-
ture at its late session made entirely new
congressional districts, but neglected to
provide for new electoral districts.