The Electoral College: Reminder for Reform

They could scarcely have known it at the time, but 48,245 North Carolinians who voted for the Republican ticket on Nov. 5 wound up casting their ballots for George Wallace instead. This switch was decided for them by Dr. Lloyd W. Bailey, a physician from Rocky Mount and one of 13 electors chosen by the state's voters to reflect their choice. By tradition, all the electoral votes should have gone automatically to Richard Nixon as winner of a plurality of the state's popular vote. Rather than ratify the Republican victory, however, Bailey, a loyal John Bircher, handed over one-thirteenth of the total votes to Wallace, because, as he put it: "Nixon has already clearly shown to us that we are going to have more of the same."*

Refusing to dismiss Bailey's act as a symbolic nose-thumbing by a disgruntled right-winger, two Democrats last week challenged the wayward Republican's vote. Maine's Senator Edmund Muskie, the defeated vice-presidential nominee, and Michigan Representative James O'Hara invoked an 1887 statute under which a majority of both houses may reject any vote by an elector that has not been "regularly given." The motion was soundly defeated, but the two Democrats believe that they have made a point. Said Muskie: "I hope that the consequences of Congress' action are understood by all Americans—and by Congress itself."

The reason for their unusual act was not, of course, to gain another superfluous electoral vote for Richard Nixon. In the last election, the fear was that George Wallace would deprive both the other candidates of an electoral majority, leaving him free to decide a winner by bargaining with his votes. By challenging Bailey's vote, O'Hara and Muskie hoped, in the latter's words, to "underscore the necessity for a complete reform of the system by constitutional amendment."

For Abolition. Millions of U.S. voters are disfranchised every four years by the college's winner-take-all system, and they are plainly eager for a change. A Louis Harris poll showed 79% of Americans in favor of abolishing the college and providing for direct election of the President; Gallup found 81% in favor of direct elections.

Ten reform resolutions have been introduced since the 91st Congress convened. One, by Louisiana Democrat Hale Boggs, which retains the state electoral votes but disbands the college itself, provides for automatic election of any candidate receiving 40% of the electoral vote. If none gets that percentage, there would be a runoff election between the two leading candidates. A more realistic approach to the problem is offered in the Senate by Indiana Democrat Birch Bayh, who says there is "no more pressing business facing the nation," is pushing for the total abolition of the Electoral College system. Presidential elections would be decided by popular vote only. Whether any of the resolutions succeeds or not depends on the support of Richard Nixon. Predicts Senate Judiciary Chairman James O. Eastland: "If the next President pushes electoral reform, we'll get it."