Milford chronicle., 1948-10-29
WHAT 1T MEANS:
A Presidential Election In The
House
By OLIVER w DeWOLF

WASHINGION ~ You've prObab-
ly heard a lot Of talk in this cleo
ton year about the possibility a
President may be elected by the
House of Representatives This
would happen only if none of the
Presidential candidates received a
majority, 266, of the 531 Electoral
College votes cast by the 48 states
in December.
Then the House would be re-
quired under the Constitution to
select a President from the three
top candidates. The election would
be held in January. Each state dele
cation would have one vote.
The last time the House elected a
president was in 1924. Then the
electoral vote tOtaled only 261, divi-
ded among "a states, and four can
didates-John Quincy Adams, An
drew Jackson, Henry Clay and Will
liam Crawford.
"a commission established by
Congress awarded the 1876 election
to Rutherford Hayes, a Republican,
over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden
The 18th amendment, passed in
1904, governed the election. But
within its framework the House
established some rules for proceed
ure. The rules passed by the House
in 1925 were not binding on succeed
ing Congresses. But they did estab-
llsh a precedent and shed some
light on how the House would set
about the job of naming a chief ex-
Ccutive.
They required that a member or
members from at least two-thirGs
of the states be present for the bal
lOting. The rule governing the aC-
tual ballOting was elaborate. House
members were grouped together by
states, with ballot box before each
group. Each House members pres
ent then voted his choice for Presi-
dent, and the ballot was placed in
the box provided for his state
After each state had counted its
vote the result was written out in
duplicate. The rule provided that if
any one Of the three candidates re-
Ceived 4 majority of the states vote.
then his name was to be written on
both slips. If 10 candidate received
a majority then the word divided"
was to be written on them.
After the states had voted tho
clerk of the House was to call The
roll. AS the name of each state was
called, the ergeant-at-arms pre-
sented two ballot boxes To the
named delegation, one for the orig
inal ballot and one for the dupli-
cate. These boxes were then 10 be
placed on separate tables and
counted by tellers representing
each of the voting states.
1t so happened that in 1924 only
one ballot was necessary. Adams
received 13 votes, Jackson Z and
Crawford 4. The speaker Cf the
House proclaimed Adams Presi-
dent Had no candidate received a
majority on the first ballot, tie Vot-
ing would have continued until one
did.
The Daily National Intelligent
CcI Vi w uOHluSJOll COluIuCulCu DIT
length editOrially on the conduct of
the election. 1t noted the "delibera-
ton and calmness" which charac-
teriZed the conduct 'Of the mem
bers of the House; the order and
regularity" of the proceedings, and
the "fOrebearance on the part of the
victors, and the sober resignation
of the vanQuished friends of the
several candidates, on the result
being ascertained."
In 1897, when Martin Van Buren,
was elected President by the Elec-
tOral College, none of the four vice
candidate received the
required majority.
In cOnfOrmanCe with the Con-
stitutiOn, the Senate then had to
choose between the two top candi-
NJ. Johnson and
Francis Granger. The procedure
differed radically from that follow
ed by the House in naming Adams.
The secretary Of the Senate called
the names of the senators in alpha
betical order, with each senator
voting his choice. Johnson received
a majority and was declared elect
ed
DR.. N. S. Nicholas, Villanova Ath- .
Iet;c trainer. can match his size ap9inS' /