Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-12-07
SIMPLE ENOUGH

IL IL is Il Fdllu ODJcCuOn against the aDOl1tlOn OF
the electoral college that under the alternative plan
the president and vice-president might be chosen
from different parties, that objection could readily
be overcome by the simple e%xpedient of having the
presidential and vice-presidential candidates of each
party bracketed together on the ballot, with one
square for a CROSS which shall count as a vote for
both candidates. a.
There is an objection, of course, to the election
of a president and vice-president from opposing
parties. The presumption is that a president is
elected because the voters approve the policies
which he represents, and wish them carried into
effect. If a man of the opposite party were elect
ed vice-president, and the president should die be-
fore the expiration of his term, the vice-president
would succeed him, and the voters would then be
in the position of undoing by their own votes what
they had done. .
AS a matter Of fact, the selection of these two
officials from different parties is quite possible I'm
der the electoral college system. The electors are
a law unto Themselves They may vote as they see
fit, and had they chosen to do SO two years ago they
could have elected Harding president and Cox vice
president, and the act would have been perfectly
legal. 1t can be. done, but it isn't done.
1t is true that there is more risk of this sort in a
popular election than in an election under our pres
ent system because there are always many voters
who do not vote intelligently. notwithstanding that
the only business of the presidential electors from
a given state is to vote for. a particular man for
president and another for vice-prcsident, split dele
nSdAlOIS ak OllSAE CltClCO.. VII. Olt OCCdSlOu 1\OTIl
Dakota elected one Republican, one Democrat and
one Populist as presidential electors. In order to
accomplish that some of the voters must have cast
their votes partly for one presidential candidate and
partly for another. In a close general vote such
split votes mightsbe found embarrassing.
The real trouble with the electoral college is
not its clumsiness or its expensiveness. 1t has two
very practical defects. One has been mentioned in
the congressional discussion, namely, that the pres
ent system operates as a bar to independent candi-
dacies. The parties which make regular nomil1a-
tons have their machinery in every state, and states
of candidates for the position of elector are easily
prepared. For an independent candidate to provide
the necessary machinery Of this sort is difficult and
expensive That bar should be removed.
The other major defect is the possibility. that
electors may, on some occasion, do exactly what5it
was originally intended that they should do-act on
their own judgment-and not on the instructions
issued by their constituents. That situation cropped
up in 1912, when III some states-it was-an open
lqlestion whether certain electors would carry out
the known wishes of their constituents or would
vote for the candidates,whon they themselves pre-
ferred. The complications were Strengthened out,
but the fact that the possibility of certain electors
violating their instructions was seriously discussed
should serve as a warning Of what mnay actually oc-
cur at some other time. A