Evening star., 1924-06-11

According to the best informed
lawyers of Congress, 1t is conceivable
| that q President and Vice President
may not be elected next November.
The Constitution, with its great pre-
science, provides that in case no can
didate receives a majority of votes in
the electoral college, President
| may be elected by the House of Rep
resentatives out of the three candi-
dates having the most votes in the
college, and a Vice President may be
elected by the Senate from the two
vice presidential candidates having
the most votes in the electoral col
lege.
The electoral college, whose cleo
tors VIII be chosen at the polls in
November, will cast its ballot for
President and Vice President January
IL. Each state delegation of electors
Will meet In the Respective state and
| there vote. The college never gets to-
gether for general deliberation. The
votes are then sealed and forwarded
from all states to Congress, and there,
IN joint session. of the Senate and
House. the votes are opened and
counted. counted February IL. If, at. this
raj college has failed to give a ma
Jority of votes to any candidate, the
two branches Of Congress then sepa-
rate and proceed to vote-the House
for President and the Senate for Vice
President.
The voting in the HOWE is confined
to the three candidates for President
having received the highest votes in
the electoral college. The House
| members do not vote individually for
a candidate. but each state delega-
tion meets and votes by state, for
state unit is cast. A candidate might
have a majority OF all the members
OF the House and yet not be elected
| If he failed to get the majority Of
| the states as units. A big state
carries no more votes in this case
than a little state.
There is in the present House a
lineup OF states as follows: Repub-
lican, 80: Democratic, 20; evenly d.
vided between Republicans and DEM
ocrats, 5. Neither the Republicans
nor Democrats, therefore, could regis
ter a majority of states; a mere
| plurality is not sufficient, but an
| actual mAjority-twenty-fiv states
is required. Hence the possibility OF
| a House deadlock, with the balance
of power in the hands of minority
| possibly a third party. Because a
deadlock has not happened since the
Constitution came into existence Is
no guaranty that 1t may not occur
when the House is not dominated
by a real majority of either party.
K X
In the Senate the vote for Vice
President is per capita of the Sena-
tors, and not by states, and since the
Senate must choose between only
two vice presidential candidates hav-
ing the highest number of votes in
the electoral college, there is less
likelihood Of a long-standing tie.
The present Senate has ffty-one
Republicans, forty three Democrats
and two Farmer-Labor members. But
those figures do not indicate the
full measure of the uncertainty OF
the vote in such a case, for the party
lineup is weak in several instances
of party independence of so-called
progressive Republicans" 1t will
require forty-nine senators to con-
stitute a majority. A change of three
Republican votes would take away
fifty-one Republicans as listed. and
again the balance of power may be
found in the hands OF a third party.
y + +
The Constitution provides that 'ff
the House of Representatives shall
not choose a President whenever the