Commentary On Elections-Part Sixty-Eight (Session Four)

In the second phrase of the first sentence of the third paragraph and also in the second sentence of the 12th Amendment, it reads as follows:

"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."

The drafters in the American Constitution realized that in Representative Democratic Mode, there would be definite occasions in which a majority of electors would not be able to elect the POTUS. That is why they devised the scheme in which House of Representative members, grouped in their own states in which each state casts one vote for this officeholder, cast ballots for POTUS. The Founding Fathers established this in case no candidate for this position achieved votes from a majority of electors.

Obviously with the direct democratic democratic mode's National Popular Vote, the foregoing is not applicable. Even with the Imperial Democratic Mode's Electoral College, which is the current system in effect, this is really not applicable. The Electoral College ensures that basically only two candidates could each vie for POTUS and VPOTUS respectively, ensuring two-party dictatorial rule.

In the 1992 Presidential election, Ross Perot was a major third party candidate who received 19% of the votes. Yet he did not receive one electoral vote. Even if Ross Perot received 37% of the votes cast by the electorate, as he was polling prior to his dropping out (he would later re-enter), he still may have gotten the majority of the electoral votes needed to become President of the United States.

If Perot would have gotten 37%, Bill Clinton plausibly would have received 35%, and George Bush plausibly would have obtained 27%. It was also likely Perot may fallen short of achieving a majority of electoral votes needed but by a small margin only. The main point is the federal and state legislatures did not have the electoral college in mind as they ratified the 12th Amendment. They knew this measure (federal house members' involvement) would only rarely be used if the electoral college scheme was implemented.

These legislators and the framers of the American Constitution would never have had written in the nation's charter a certain measure if it was only to be exercised in a rare momentary occasion. The drafters and ratifiers were fully aware that the need for the House Of Representatives to choose the POTUS would not be uncommon at all. That is why it was incorporated in the Constitution's 12th Amendment.

If the manner prescribed by this 12th Amendment in choosing the POTUS is followed, the need for the House members to possibly choose the POTUS would not be uncommon at all. There would exist at least a significant minority of occasions in which these federal lower house members would have to choose the POTUS if the electors failed to do so.

This is due to the fact that there would one distinct elector representing each congressional district as well as two other electors representing each state. Each elector would choose from the field of Presidential candidates who submitted their applications with the Federal Election Commission. Since these candidates would not have the fanfare of present-day Presidential candidates due to the current system in place, no elector would refuse to vote for a candidate simply because that elector did not want to waste his/her vote.

With the Constitutional and Representative Democratic system in place, electors would be much more able to vote his/her conscience. This means the field of candidates would expand and become more heterogeneous than it is now. It had been like this for many decades prior to the start of the American Civil War. There would be much more of a variety of candidates for POTUS who would receive consideration for that specific job.

Cliff Notes Version: If the manner prescribed by this 12th Amendment in choosing the POTUS is followed, the need for the House members to possibly choose the POTUS would not be uncommon at all.

The Electoral College has to be abolished. The Presidential electors and Vice-Presidential electors have to each make his/her own individual choice of candidate. The Electoral College establishes conformity as the majority of electors belonging to each state decides who that state's choice for President and Vice-President will be. That violates the American Constitution as it gives each elector the authority to freely cast a ballot for any candidate of his or her own choosing.