The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1912-06-27
MAY VOTE ANY WAY
II MAY Desire
No Rule Expressed i'm Constitution aS
TO the Way Electoral College
Must Cast its Vote.

There il not. however. any rul-
ing cNprcSSCC 80 taC Constitution
or its amendments which insists
that members OF the Electoral
college shall vote only for their
party = candidate. They are ac-
tuatlN aS Tree "a they were II6
Years ago To name any person
who cOmmcndS himself TO their
individual choice.
Ia $500. even more than in 1896. .,
situation arose which may find lis
parallel this year if Films threat is
made good. The campaign that year
was petN cen jefferson and Adam.
The New England States voted solid
~ Tor Adams and the Southern States
as SOlidly FOR jefferson. with the sin
@le exception of North Carolina.
Mich gave four votes to Adams ana
eight to jefferson.
sut when the vote of the Electoral
college was counted il was found that
not only jefferson had received more
votes than Adams. but that Burr had
%eVenty-three votes, while Adams got
but siXty-five.
Burr Had Equal Chance.
jefferson had won his election and
there should have been no question
about according il 10 him. But un-
der the electoral system of that day.
by which each electOr voted for two
candidates for President and Burr had
received as many votes as jefferson
he had, upon the face Of the returns
an equal claim to the highest honor
of the republic. But he had not been
discussed or seriously thought Of as a
candidate for President. He was ac-
cepted by the Republicans distinctly
as the candidate for Vice President.
and the whole battle was fought out
on the issue between jefferson and
Adams.
Had Burr been quite unselfish he
wonld nave ended the struggle at once
by refusing to accept his unearned
hohorS. bul as soon as he discovered
mat he vote was equal to that given
10 Jefferson he showed his true char
acter
Deadlock Lasted for Months.
He did not give his open consent to
the use OF his name. but he remained
silent and allowed il 70 be- under
stood that he would contest the claim
with JEFFERSON. The deadlock in the
electoral college continued from cleo
ton time in November until February
OF the next year. Adams following
were ready To throw their strength to
JehepsOn if he would promise to re-
tam in office those Federal appointees
2ppointed by Adams; but this ne re-
fused to do, and in February the mat
ter was turned over TO the House for
adjudication, as provided in tn. Con-
stifUtiOp.
The House began its banotng on
February 18th and continued it until
February 18th. Thirty-siN BALLOTS
were taken before Jefferson was finally
elected
The HayeS-TiIden Contest.
Only once i'm the history OF the
country has the electoral college
failed TO register the will of the
people as expressed i'm the DOpu-
lar vote. This was in 1876 when
Samuel j. TiIden. the DemOt ratio
candidate for President. received
majority OF about $50. 900 votes
over Rutherford IL. HavcS the
Republican nominee. On tl,r
morning after the election news
papers Of all parties announced
the election of Tiidcn. but Scna-
tor Ch7ndle~. secretary Cf the ma
tiOnal Republican committee. an
nOunced that Florida, Louisiana
and South Carolina had honestly
voted for Hayes and that Hayes
would finally receive their cleo
tOraI votes.
With the whole machinery Of gov
eminent in the hands Of the Repub-
licanS (Grant was the President il
was almost a hopeless battle for Tilden
to fight for the disputed Southern
States, but the Democratic people be-
came violently aroused and threats
were freely made that the Inaugural
ton of Hayes would be prevented by
mob violence If attempted.
The true history of the struggle for
the control Of the electoral votes OF the
three States named has never been
written. All three States had voted