European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 17, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Doily Magazine by Warren Weaver new York Tolmei or the first time in modern political history a president i has undertaken a Persona Campaign to eliminate the historic state oriented electoral vote system that officially put him in the White House an substitute a National plurality of the popular  would require repeal ing the 12th amendment to the Constitution enacted in 1804, and substituting a new 27th amendment a process that is bound to be Long and fraught with both political and Legal controversy. President Carter s interest in this particular electoral Reform is not surprising. In last november s election a shift of 9,245 votes in Ohio and 3,687 in Hawaii from the democratic to the Republican ticket would have returned Gerald r. Ford to the White House despite the fact that he would have received nearly 1.7 million fewer votes than his opponent. This Ever present possibility that the popular vote Winner would lose the election is probably the single most serious objection to the electoral College but there Are a number of others that will be actively de bated. With the president s Blessing sen. Birch Bayh d-ind.,who is the Leader of a bipartisan coalition supporting the direct election amendment is pressing for Early approval in Congress hopeful that it might be possible to put the change into effect in the 1980 election. But there Are roadblocks. The background the framers of the Constitution not As fervent apostles of popular democracy As patriotic oratory sometimes contends created an indirect system of choosing the president and vice president. They provided that the voters in each state would choose electors who would. Intern cast their ballots As they chose for president with the runner up becoming vice  the emergence of a two party system the 1804 amendment required the electors from each state Toast separate ballots for president and vice president. A unified ticket was assured since All electors in any stat represented the party that received a majority of the vote within the state. That same system has been used quadrennial by for thelast 173 years. On three occasions it installed in the White Housea president who had run second in the popular ballot ing John a Nancy Adams in 1824, Rutherford b. Hayes in 1876 and Benjamin Harrison in 1888. Aside from such reversals of the popular will these other problems arose the allocation of electoral Voles among the states on the basis of the size of their congressional delegations rather than population gave disproportionate influence tothe smaller states. Under the current allocation a state gets an electoral College vote for each of its senators and each of its representatives. The Winner take All system of giving All a state s elec tors to the presidential candidate who carried the state no matter How narrowly effectively disenfranchised Al those who voted for the runner up in the two tiered Sec Uon system their votes never counted for anything again. The electors were left legally free to vote for any candidate they chose even if they ran pledged to the Nomi nees of one party As became customary. As a result almost every four years some faithless elector rejects his instructions and supports someone of his own Choice. The method devised in 1804 for resolving election sin which no candidate got a majority of the electoral maw it Asp Hope you la try your Luck vat the us maim of your next trip vote which produced president Adams in 1824 has cast a continuing Shadow Over the process. Under that system when no candidate gets a majority members of the House of representatives choose among the three candidates with the largest number of electoral votes with each state delegation casting one vote and a majority of the states required for election. This provision invites a House dominated by one part to overturn the election of a presidential candidate of the other who led the popular vote but failed to win a majority of the electoral vote. In theory at least it permits a third party candidate who succeeded in denying an elec toral vote majority to the popular Winner to auction off his House strength to the highest bidder. For direct election the Bayh amendment its supporters believe would eliminate four of the five major problems now mandated by the Constitution and provide a More equitable solution for the situation in which no one candidate in a Field of three or More wins a Clear mandate from the  eliminating both electors and electoral votes and declaring the candidate with the most popular votes nationally the Winner the possibility of electing a president with fewer votes than his opponent would be eliminated states would have political Power exactly proportional to their population or More accurately their election Day turnout. Every voter would be assured that his vote counted in the final selection even if he cast it in a stat with a top heavy majority for the other candidate. The faithless elector would vanish along with his fanciful col tonal elections particularly in the spirit of recent court decisions upholding the one Man one vote principle. Against direct election traditionalists argue that a time tested system  be abandoned in favor of one that might touch off pro found and unanticipated change in the National political system. For example prof. Charles c. Blackjr. Of the Yale Law school a constitutional authority has called the electoral College system almost miraculously Suc  As a practical matter the adoption of direct elec Tion would deprive smaller states of the additional influence they enjoy under the present electoral vote apportionment. Their representatives in Congress predict that presidential candidates would no longer bother to Campaign in Alaska. Delaware Nevada and Vermont drastically reducing their participation in the electoral process. The elimination of the Winner take All electoral vote Al location within states is opposed by both political leaders and influential minority blocs in the Large states. The credit that Bosses can claim for delivering All of a state s electoral votes diminishes under a popular system to the size of the majority by the same Token an Active voting bloc that held the balance of Power in a close state under the old system would lose much of its former leverage. These arguments have been advanced in the past on behalf of Urban voters generally and Blacks in particular with both groups contending that they Are under represented in the executive and legislative branches and should retain the political Power that the electoral col lege gives them even if More or less by Accident. Over the years opponent of direct election have argued that the electoral College strengthens toe two party system leading to reduce the potential threat posed by third party candidates like gov. George c. Wallace of Alabama who would have More difficulty getting significant Aumbra of elec toral vote than popular votes. Overall backers of the electoral College argue that it under the current Bayh amendment. If no Candi Date received 40 per cent or More of the popular vote the decision would pass to a joint Teuton of Congress with each member casting one vote. Eight years ago. An alternative under which a Runoff election would be held if no one got 40 per cent of the vote aroused considerable opposition in Congress and was ultimately dropped in favor of the joint session. The underlying argument of direct election supporters is that their plan would fulfil More accurately the constitutional objectives of full democratic participation in a tuesday. May 17, 1977 embodies the concept of federalism encouraging stat diversity that More accurately reflects the Impact o drafters of the Constitution. F the the Outlook constitutional amendments must win two thirds majorities in both the Senate and House and then be ratified by Legislatures in three quarters of the states. Where Contro Versy is involved this can be a formidable task As sup porters of the equal rights amendment have discovered. In 1969 the House approved a direct election amendment. 339 to 70, but a filibuster forced its abandon ment in the Senate a year later. Since that time Senate rules have been changed tomake it easier to Cut off a filibuster but changes in makeup of the Senate judiciary committee threaten tomake it More difficult for Bayh to get the proposal to the floor. Nevertheless its prospects for congressional approval Are probably stronger than they have Ever been before. Carter s leadership position on the Issue reinforced by his Public popularity should be helpful. The last time around former president Richard m. Nixon endorsed the proposal Only after it had won House approval and he never attempted to exert pressure on Republican Sena tors As he did for other legislation. Ratification by the states almost certainly constitute the most serious Barrier to adoption of direct election an argument its opponents can be expected to raise in con Gress in order to characterize its approval there As futile. If 13 state Legislatures refuse to approve the Bay amendment it will fail and at least that Many stats would lose theoretical influence if it were incorporated into the Constitution. Twenty one of the so states have six or fewer electoral votes and. Generally the popular vote each of them cast in 1976 contributed Only about half As much to the total popular vote for the Candy Date they sup ported As their electoral vote contributed to Liis total elec toral vote. The stars and stripes Page 13