Electoral College's political lessons

John Schudy or Shirla Howard?

Although many people in Missouri's 8th Congressional District have probably never heard these names before, that is essentially the choice those voting for U.S. president will face on Tuesday.

That's because when Missourians cast their vote for John Kerry or George W. Bush, they won't actually be voting for those candidates directly. Instead, they'll be casting their lot with a slate of 11 electors -- loyalists who have each promised allegiance to their party's presidential candidate. In Missouri's 8th District, those loyalists are Republican Schudy, Democrat Howard, Libertarian Greg Tlapek and the Constitution Party's Philip Deatherage.

Confused?

You're not alone. Since its inception, the Electoral College has been the focus of torrid debate as its integrity has been repeatedly challenged by close presidential elections. In several elections it failed to determine a winner, and in a few cases -- including the 2000 race -- it chose a president who didn't actually win the popular vote.

The electoral college was formed at the 1787 Constitutional Convention as a compromise between delegates who wanted Congress to select the nation's president and those who wanted a popular vote. Each state receives a number of electoral votes based on its congressional representation. Each state gets one vote per congressional district and U.S. Senate seat. Therefore, Missouri has 11 -- nine congressional districts and two senators. California has 55, Texas 34. Washington, D.C., which has no congressional representation, receives three electoral votes, fewer than any of the states.

All together there are 538 Electoral College votes in the United States. In order to win the election, a presidential candidate must garner 270, a simple majority.

The sticking point for many of the Electoral College's detractors is that 48 states -- including Missouri -- are considered "winner-takes-all." That means the candidate who wins the state's popular vote gets all of that state's electoral votes. For instance, even if a vast majority of residents in Missouri's 8th District vote for Bush but Kerry carries the state overall, Kerry receives that district's electoral vote along with the 10 others.

Two states, Maine and Nebraska, operate on a district form of the electoral system. In this system, different winners are chosen in each congressional district and at the state level. For instance, the candidate who gets the most votes in one of Nebraska's three districts, gets that district's electoral vote. Then the candidate who takes the overall state vote gets the other two. Theoretically, four candidates could get electoral votes from Nebraska.

If Kerry were to win in Missouri, Howard, the district's Democratic elector, would get a phone call at her house in Dexter, Mo., asking her to report to the House of Representatives in Jefferson City on Dec. 13. She got a similar call when Bill Clinton carried Missouri in 1996.

Both times, Howard was nominated by the district party president to be the district's elector. She said she was chosen because she served on the state Democratic Committee, actively campaigned for the party and is the wife of former Democratic state Sen. Jerry Howard. The entire slate of Democratic electors -- one from each district and two selected at-large from anywhere in the state to represent the Senate seats -- is approved by a vote of the delegates at the party's state convention.

Republican electors are all appointed by the individual district committees the April before the election except for the two at-large delegates chosen at the state convention.

In 1996, Howard and her fellow Democratic electors met in the House lounge where each cast their votes for president and vice president. They then signed six "certificates of vote" and six "bills of ascertainment." Every election year, two copies of each go to the Office of the Federal Register, two go to the Missouri secretary of state and another copy of each goes to a federal district court judge in Jefferson City. The last copy of each heads to Washington, D.C., where the votes are read aloud by the president of the Senate before Congress in January. On January 20, the new president is inaugurated.

What goes awry?

That's how it's supposed to work, and in most election years throughout American history, it's taken place with little problem. But the Electoral College has created issues.

For instance, if there is a tie in electoral votes or no one receives the 270 majority, the matter goes to the U.S. House of Representatives, which selects the president from among the top three contenders. Each state casts one vote, and whoever receives an absolute majority wins. The Senate then selects the vice president in a similar fashion from among the top two contenders for the office.

In 1824, four candidates split electoral votes so that no one got the majority. Andrew Jackson won the popular vote and the most electoral votes, but when fourth-place candidate Henry Clay put his support behind John Quincy Adams, Adams was selected as president.

In 1888, Benjamin Harrison won the election even though his opponent had won the popular vote by less than 1 percent. Similarly in 2000, Al Gore netted over 500,000 more popular votes than Bush, but Bush won 271 electoral votes and therefore the election.

The latter incident also brought to the forefront another issue with the electoral system, that of the faith in the electors. Although the electors are expected to cast their vote for their party's candidate, only 26 states have laws to try and enforce that. In Missouri, there is no such law. During the 2000 election, electors all over the country were implored to switch their votes to put Gore in office.

Howard never had to sign anything saying she was legally bound to vote for Clinton in 1996, or for Kerry if he wins in 2004. She points out that almost all electors are party fanatics who wouldn't consider swaying, and they are chosen for that reason. She said she simply gave her word to her party that she would cast the Democratic vote.

With a close election forecast again this year, the Electoral College may be bound for more controversy. But local voters should remember that their vote has a long and winding path to travel before Inauguration Day.

trehagen@semissourian.com

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