Evening star., 1940-11-03
Reviews History Of
Electoral College
BIZ Frederic J. Huski1.


though that device Of the Constitution
was the shortest-lived in usefulness Of
any portion of the great document. The
fact that the electoral college still re-
mains q part of the Constitution when
so many amendments have been made
70 it is one of the curious things in
American politics.
Were the countrys forefathers who
drafted the Constitution to be placed on
trial today to defend their electoral col
lege, the main defense probably would
be that even in the present form Of elec-
ton the method has worked well and
has not failed seriously to register the
popular will. Yet it has come so near
thwarting that will several times that
possible changes to eliminate the chance
of such an outcome are a matter of live
interest. The admission must be made.
however, that no plan has been offered
which even mildly threatened the exist
ence of the present device.
Although great Importance is attached
to political parties, and each upholds the
Constitution. it makes no mention OF
them. The trainers of that great docu-
ment did not anticipate that political
parties would develop. Not only this,
but they thought that it would not be
in the interest of the best form OF gov
ernment to give the people direct vote
for the President Instead they provided
the electoral college.
The idea was that the electors would
talk things over and vote for the man
whom they believed best qualified for
Chief Executive. But the rise OF political
parties after 1896 did away with the
practical use of the electoral college, al
though it continues to function as the
safeguard for which it was instituted.
Electors who compose the electoral
college are nominated in accordance
with State laws. Under the Constitu-
ton the selection of electors Of the vari-
Gus States takes place on the same day
throughout the country. This has been
set by Congress as the first Tuesday after
the first Monday in November Of the year
preceding the presidential Inauguration.
Each State is entitled to the same NUM-
ber of electors as it has Representatives
and Senators in Congress. On this basis.
there are 531 members Of the electoral
college.
Electors of each State meet at places
designated by the State legislators-us-
ually the State capital. They sign two
certificates of all votes given by them.
Each of these certificates must contain
two separate ists-one Of the votes for
President and the other for Vice Presi-
dent After the votes are cast and sealed
they are forwarded to the President of
the Senate of the United States. In or
der that no mistake may arise, one IS
sent by registered mail, the other by
special messenger They are accom-
panied by a certificate executed by the
Governor Of the respective State, setting
forth the names Of electors and the
number or decision Of the votes cast.
This ends the work of the electoral COL
lege, and it is then the duty of Congress
oficially to count and announce the vote.
The idea of electors is not new in the
history Of political science. In the days
when Germany had an emperor he was
chosen by an electoral college; the kings
of Poland were chosen by the Diet, and
the Popes of Rome have always been
elected by the College of Cardinals.
Although the trainers Of the Constitu-
ton were careful to safeguard the vote
Of the people, they provided that each
elector cast his two votes for separate
candidates without specifying which
should be given preference for President.
The rule applied was that the one re-
ceiving the highest number of votes was
elected President, and the one with the
next largest number served as Vice Presi-
dent In 1896 this resulted in the elec-
ton of John Adams as President and
Thomas Jefferson as Vice President, al
though members Of different parties
In 1900 another complication came
about when Jefferson and Burr-mem-
bers Of the same party-each received
73 votes. As provided in the Constitu-
ton, this carried the contest to the
House of Representatives, each State
having one vote cast by its delegation.
Jefferson was elected President with 10
States, with for Burr, and 2 not voting.
Burr became Vice President. To avoid
such a conflict in the future, the 18th
amendment was adopted in 1904, which
provided that each elector cast one vote
for one person for President and one for
Vice President, both to be chosen by q
majority of the electoral votes. Since
then only one contest has been carried
to the House of Representatives. That
was in 1924 when John Quincy Adams
received "a electoral votes and Andrew
jackson 80, neither having q majority.
The House decided in favor Of Jackson.
For more than 100 years many efforts
have been made to eliminate the elec-
toral college from the Constitution.
There have been many ideas advanced
to do this, but retaining the principle Of
State sovereignty. The one plan often
advanced is to have the President elected
by the States, voting as units. making
adequate provision for settling a tie.
Each State would vote for the candidate
favored by the largest number Of its
voters. However, such a method would
work in virtually the same way As the
electoral college. For example, in 1876
when an electoral commission was set up
to settle the Tlden-Hayes controversy,
each candidate had II uncontested
States, and were claimed by both. All