The tendency of the district system was to divide the electoral vote, while the "general ticket" tends to a solid vote from each State. In the "Mugwump" campaign of 1884—Cleveland-Blaine—no State divided its electoral votes. No State divided its vote in the Harrison-Cleveland election of 1888. In 1892, owing to the People's Party candidate breaking the vote, and owing to other circumstances, five States divided their votes. In the McKinley-Bryan contest of 1896 the votes were only divided in two States—California and Kentucky—where the popular voting was so close that each State named one Bryan elector.
The present system of naming electors increases the chances of electing Presidents who have received less than a majority of the popular vote, and it is even possible to elect a President who has received less than a plurality of votes, which has happened in two instances—the election of Hayes and Benjamin Harrison. It can be seen in the following instances how both of the cases may happen: A candidate may carry Kansas by a majority of 43,000, as Blaine did in 1884, and gain nine electoral votes, and lose New York, with its thirty-six electoral votes by 1,149 popular votes, as happened in the same election; or in 1896, when Bryan carried Colorado by 133,000 majority and gained four electoral votes, and perhaps lost twelve electoral votes in Kentucky by the narrow margin of 281 popular votes.
The following Presidents have failed to receive a majority of the total popular vote: Adams in 1824 (elected by the House), Polk in 1844, Taylor in 1848, Buchanan in 1856, Lincoln in 1860, Hayes in 1876, Garfield in 1880, Cleveland in 1884, Harrison in 1888, and Cleveland in 1892. McKinley, in 1896, was the first President since 1872 to receive a clear majority of the popular votes.
Only States vote at the presidential elections, each State being entitled to a number of electors equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in Congress. New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ohio rank in the order named as to largest number of electors. Since the first election of Jackson, in 1828, no President has been chosen in direct opposition to the combined votes of New York and Pennsylvania.
The theory of the electoral college, as conceived by the Federal Convention, was never realized. The aim was to constitute this peculiar body as a check on the popular excitement attendant on these elections. It was meant that the electors should meet some time after the election day and calmly discuss the merits of the best men. Under the present system, the National Conventions of the various parties present their candidates; on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November of every fourth year the people vote for the electors, and the result is known the next day, although the electors do not meet until the second Monday in January next after the election. There is nothing in the Constitution to compel an elector to vote for any particular candidate, yet custom is often stronger than law, and the elector who would frustrate the wishes of the people who elected him would be guilty of the basest of political treachery, although no law could punish him.
In the early history of the country, presidential candidates were first presented by the party leaders, then by Congressional caucuses, by State Legislatures, local conventions, and since 1832 the method of nominating has been by National Conventions of the various parties. Each State is generally allowed twice as many delegates as it has electors. In the Democratic Conventions a two-thirds vote of the delegates is necessary for choice, while the Republican Conventions only require a majority vote of the delegates for choice.
The Constitution requires, among other things, that the President shall be thirty-five years of age. Mr. Roosevelt is the youngest President we have had, being three years younger than Ulysses S. Grant, who was forty-seven years old when inaugurated. The eldest was William H. Harrison, who was sixty-eight years of age when inaugurated.
The manner of counting the electoral vote is prescribed in the Twelfth
Amendment to the Constitution as follows:
"The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; the person having the greatest number of votes for President shall be President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President, whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice."
The procedure of the two houses, in case the returns of the election of electors from any State are disputed, is provided in the "Electoral Count" Act, passed in 1886. The "Electoral Count" Act remedied the strained situation brought about by the Hayes-Tilden controversy in 1876. Congress counts the ballots on the second Wednesday in February succeeding the meeting of the electors.