Evening star., 1948-12-12
To End an Anuchronism

In its final tabulatton of the official
returns from all forty-eight States, the
Associated Press confirms that President
on November 2. Out of a total of 1880, ,416
votes, he won 24,104, 1886, or 4s.5 per cent
a figure giving him plurality of 2,135,336
over Governor Dewey, who won 45.1, and
the other candidates combined, who
won 54.
Yet, although the election was thus the
closest since 1915 and the first since then
to be decided by mere plurality, Mr..
Truman will receive an overwhelming
majority of the electoral votes. Unless
Tennessee gives one or two to Governor
Thurmond, the President will get 304 to
189 for Governor Dewey-a distribution
wholly out of line with the popular vote.
If the latter determined the proportions,
Mr.. Truman, though he still would be the
winner, would be awarded only about forty
more than Mr.. Dewey.
The reason for this disparity, of course,
is that under our present system presi-
Dental candidate who wins in any given
State receives all the electoral votes of
that State even though his opponent may
run a very close second to him. AS result,
as has happened three times in our history,
there is always the quadrennial possibility
that man winning the largesv number of
popular votes will win only minority in
the electoral college and thus. lose the
presidency to contestant receiving less
support from the American people. Or
else-as has also happened in the past and
as might have happened this year-the
House of Representatives may have to de-
eide the outcome because of the failure of
any one to get an electoral-vote majority.
Neither of these genuinely dangerous
possibilities materialized on November Q,
but what about 1852, or 1885, or 1860? AS
long as we continue to adhere to our
wholly outmoded electoral college system,
we shall be inviting trouble of sort that
could be extremely harmful to the political
stability and health of the Nation. That
is why the next Congress ought to give
the most serious and most sympathetic
consideration to Senator Lodges proposal
to amend the Constitution to provide that
henceforth the electoral vote for President
and Vice President be counted in proper.
tion to the popular vote. The present ar
rangement is anachronistic, and the sooner
we are rid of it the better.
Although the major virtue of the pro-
posed Lodge amendment is that 1t would
eliminate the dangers inherent in an elec-
ton thrown into the House, or in which
the man with the biggest popular vote
loses it has other wholesome features as
well. For one thing, it would discourage
perncious politicking aimed at winning
the favor of minority pressure groups in
key States with large and crucial blocs Of
electoral votes. For another, it would tend
to have the politically healthful effect of
breaking up one-party areas like the solid
South.
These are but a few of the arguments
that can be marshaled in favor of the
Lodge proposal. They greatly outweigh
anything that can be said against 1t. There
can be no doubt that it would strengthen
our political system by bringing the elec-
toral vote into true, democratic line with
the popular vote. The time has come for
a constitutional amendment to that end.