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Introduction

In messages to the Congress in 1965 and 1966, President Johnson urged adoption of an amendment to the Constitution to reform the electoral college system. The President described several major defects in the system which he said "should be eliminated in order to assure that the people's will shall not be frustrated in the choice of their President and Vice-President." The President urged in his special message of January 20, 1966, that "elimination of these defects in our Constitution is long overdue. Our concepts of self-government and sound government require it."

Among the defects to which the President referred was the possibility that the constitutional independence of unpledged electors might be exploited and their votes manipulated in a close election to prevent the election of a major candidate and to throw the election of President into the House of Representatives. He referred to the undemocratic procedure of electing a President in the House, under which each state has one vote regardless of population. The President also called attention to the fact that there exists no provision in law covering the case of death of a candidate before the counting of the electoral votes.

To accomplish the objective of electoral reform, various proposals on the subject have been introduced in Congress. Three of the four basic proposals would retain the system of allocating to each state a number of electoral votes equal to the number of Senators and Representatives to which the state is entitled in Congress. The "unit vote" proposal would write into the Constitution the present practice of awarding all of a state's electoral votes to the candidate who wins the greatest number of popular votes in the state. The "proportional vote" proposal would divide the electoral vote of each state among the candidates in proportion to the division of the popular vote in the state. The "district vote" proposal would divide each state into electoral districts comparable to congressional districts; the

winner of the popular plurality within the district would receive that district's electoral vote, and two additional electoral votes would go to the candidate receiving a plurality of the popular vote in the state. Most of these proposals would eliminate the office of presidential elector.

The fourth basic proposal would abolish the electoral college system altogether and provide for the election of the President on the basis of a direct, nationwide popular vote.

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Recommendations

It is the consensus of the Commission that an amendment to the United States Constitution should be adopted to reform the method of electing a President and Vice-President. The amendment should: 1 provide for the election of the President and Vice-President by direct, nationwide popular vote;

2 require a candidate to obtain at least forty percent of the popular vote in order to be elected President or Vice-President;

3 provide for a national runoff election between the two top candidates in the event no candidate receives at least forty percent of the popular vote;

4 require the President and Vice-President to be voted for jointly; 5 empower Congress to determine the days on which the original election and the runoff election are to be held, which days shall be uniform throughout the United States;

6 provide that the places and manner of holding the presidential election and the inclusion of the names of candidates on the ballot shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof, with the proviso that Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations;

7 require that the voters for President and Vice-President in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for persons voting therein for Members of Congress, with the proviso that each state may adopt a less restrictive residence requirement for voting for President and Vice-President provided that Congress may adopt uniform age and residence requirements; and 8 contain appropriate provisions in case of the death of a candidate.

Direct, nationwide popular vote

The electoral college method of electing a President of the United States is archaic, undemocratic, complex, ambiguous, indirect, and

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