Posted by
Gamecock on Saturday, April 07, 2007 3:04:41 AM
Arkansans won’t defer to other 49 and D.C on Presidential preference
By
Mike DeVine
One of the great Southern columnists this week seeks to save the Electoral College from the Arkansas House of Representatives:
"How strange: Legislators here in Arkansas, or at least those in this state's House of Representatives, have just voted for a bill that would cast the state's six electoral votes for whichever presidential candidate won the nation's popular vote. That's right: This state's delegates to the Electoral College would no longer follow the wishes of Arkansas voters. Instead, they'd go with whichever candidate got the most popular votes nationwide."
Paul Greenburg need not worry. Gamecock can't imagine one Razorbacks giving up their right to vote for President to a majority of voters in the other 49 states and D.C.
So, the Electoral College is safe so long as human nature prevails in birthplace of Bill Clinton. And I think we can count on nature in a place with a place called "Hope."
The more intriguing question raised by Greenburg's column is whether the proposed state law would pass constitutional muster:
"Can this bill be constitutional? Can a state legislature reverse the result of a federal presidential election within its borders? And why would the state's own legislature take away Arkansas' right to vote for a president, and just go with the rest of the country willy-nilly? Arkansas doesn't ordinarily play a large part in presidential campaigns as it is. After all, larger states have a lot more electoral votes to cast than a small one like Arkansas. But why sacrifice what little influence a small state has? It's a mystery. Yet this is happening all over the country, as states are asked to join an interstate compact pledging to support the winner of the national popular vote. If successful, this movement would render the Electoral College meaningless."
So let us consult the relevant portion of the U.S. Constitution:
Article II
Section 1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows:
Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.
The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves. And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the number of votes for each; which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate.
It is clear that state legislatures control the manner in which electors are appointed. It is also equally clear that no wildcat elector's votes have been thrown out because they voted contrary to the directions provided by state statutes to vote in accordance with the popular vote of the state's voters.
The U.S. Constitution says that electors vote for President and Vice President by ballot. It does not allow bills passed by state legislators to "cast" ballots. And given that wild cat electors that have defied state laws directing them to vote in accord with the majority of their own state's voters, it is unlikely the court would rule otherwise when electors defy majorities of non-home states!
Especially post Bush v Gore.
Greenburg explains the genius of the Electoral College in the remainder of his brilliant column, which I commend to you. But I can sum it up as follows:
We ain't France.
Read the whole thing.
Cross-posted at The HinzSight Report and Race for 2008.
Mike Gamecock DeVine @ The Charlotte Observer
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