Our Government: Local, State, and National: Idaho Edition

by James Alton James; Albert Hart Sanford

It now seems probable before another Presidential election that some form of the direct primary will be in use in all of the States. The growth of sentiment in favor of the selection of delegates to the National convention by the direct primary has been most remarkable. Oregon, California, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Michigan passed such primary laws prior to the election of 1912. Pennsylvania had a modified primary law, and in a number of other States there were voluntary primaries.

Election of Delegates to the National Conventions.—The National conventions of the Republican and the Democratic parties are made up of twice as many delegates from the different States as these States have representatives and senators in Congress.

The National Convention.—The National convention is held in some leading city during the month of June or July of the year in which a President is to be elected. A few days before the time set for the convention, the delegates, together with many thousands of politicians and sight-seers, flock to that city. Headquarters are established and delegates are interviewed on behalf of the different candidates. On the day appointed, the convention is called to order by the chairman of the National committee, under whose auspices the convention is to be held. A temporary chairman is elected, and clerks and secretaries are appointed. Committees are also appointed, the most important being those on credentials and on resolutions. Each State delegation selects one of its members for each of the committees. In the next session, a permanent chairman is usually selected, and the committee on resolutions presents its report, which sets forth the platform embodying party doctrines and principles. Nominations are then in order. The roll of States is called, and the various delegations place before the convention the favorite of their State. A State often waives its privilege in behalf of some other State which has a candidate to present. Again the clerk calls the roll of the States, and each chairman of a delegation announces the votes from his State. In the Republican convention a majority of the number of delegates voting is sufficient to nominate; but no nomination is possible in the Democratic convention except by a vote of two-thirds of the delegates. Then follows the selection of a candidate for Vice-President. In this choice the attempt is made to secure some man who will add strength to the party, and who comes from a different section of the country from that represented by the candidate for the Presidency. He may, as in the cases of Tyler and Johnson, represent a faction of the party that is not in entire agreement with the majority.

The National Committee.—A National committee is also appointed, made up of one member from each State, who is nominated by the State delegation. The wishes of the Presidential candidate are of influence in the choice of the chairman, who need not be a member of the convention. The committee occupies a position of great importance, for by it the platform of the party is largely determined. We have here a body of men not mentioned by the Constitution, but exerting vastly greater influence upon the election of President than does the electoral college itself. It organizes the campaign, secures money, selects speakers, and sends out party literature. The committee looks after the interests of the party during the ensuing four years and issues the call for the next National convention.

Election of Electors.—We are now ready to consider the place of the electors in the choice of a President. The nominations of candidates for the office of elector are usually made at the State conventions of the different parties when State tickets are nominated. These occur, ordinarily, in August or September preceding the November election. Each political party nominates as many electors as the State has senators and representatives in Congress. The names of the electors are then placed on the general party ticket, on which appear also the names of the candidates for President and Vice-President; each person then votes for the entire number of electors to which his State is entitled, and will naturally vote for all the electors on his party ticket. The political party, therefore, which receives the majority of votes in a State secures all the electoral votes of that State.[^[40]]

Vacancies in the Offices of Electors.—Congress enacted in 1845 that each State might provide, by law, for the filling of vacancies in the electoral college, and that if any State failed to choose electors on the regular day, that they might be appointed on a later day in such manner as the State might, by law, direct. Nearly all of the State legislatures have conferred on the college itself the power of filling vacancies.

Function of Electors.—The steps prescribed by the Constitution must still be followed, although we know, long before the electors cast their votes, who the next President will be. The actual function of the electors is given in Amendment XII, as follows:—

The electors shall meet in their respective States and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President; and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign, and certify, and transmit, sealed, to the seat of government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;—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 the 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 the States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President, whenever the right to choose 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. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

Voting of the Electors.—The formal election of President takes place on the second Monday in January, when the electors meet at their various State capitals and cast their votes. Separate ballots are given for Vice-President. Three separate sealed lists of the results are then prepared. Two of these are sent to the President of the Senate, one by mail and the other by special messenger. The third is deposited with the United States district judge of the district in which the electors meet. On the second Wednesday in February the votes are opened by the President of the Senate, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, and counted. That person having a majority of the electoral votes case for President is declared to be duly elected. The one who has a majority of the electoral votes cast for Vice-President is also elected to that office.

Election of President by the House of Representatives.—In case no Presidential candidate receives a majority of the electoral votes, the election goes to the House of Representatives, as is provided in the amendment we are considering. Here the three candidates having the highest number of votes are alone considered. The voting is by States. In 1825 John Quincy Adams was elected President in this way. He had fewer popular and fewer electoral votes than Andrew Jackson, but he received the votes of thirteen out of twenty-four States in the House.