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→viduals would have been the successful candidates. On the band, during the same period the operation of the Lodge-Gossett sation would have resulted in the election of two other persons

received fewer popular votes than their opponents who, under the present system, were the successful candidates. So that, assumung no change in the voting habits of the people, the result would have been a stand-off.

The proponents of the Lodge-Gossett resolution argue, of course, that under different rules we should have had a different result because of the greater activity of minority parties in the so-called safe States, and the greater interest of members of such parties in Presidential elections. For the reasons given above, it is submitted that more restrictions, rather than fewer, would be placed upon the franchise in the safe States, that the safe States would be made even safer, and that future elections under the Lodge-Gossett resolution would be far less representative of the popular will than has been the case in the past under our present system.

CONCLUSION

It is most strongly recommended that the Lodge-Gossett resolution be amended so as to limit its effect to the following:

1. The elimination of the electoral college, retaining the assignment of electoral votes to the States on the present basis.

2. The granting to the people, as a constitutional right. of a direct vote for presidential and vice presidential candidates.

3. The provision for the election of the President and Vice President by a simple plurality of electoral votes. with the additional proviso that, if no candidate should receive 35 percent of the electoral votes, the election would go into the House of Representatives with one vote for each Member of the House. rather than one vote for each State.

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The proposed division of each State's electoral votes in proportion to the popular vote in that State would cut deeply and, it is believed. dangerously into the fabric of our American institutions. It would result in further restriction of the franchise in the "safe" States. It would entrench even more firmly than at present one-party domination in those States. Lessening the necessity for attention by the two major parties to the legitimate interests of minority groups, it would dangerously weaken the two-party system. It would be body blow to any effective program of civil rights.

It would be far better that this proposed change be not made. But if such a change should be contemplated, it should in no event be approved by the Congress unless there is added to it a provision that in each presidential election a State's electoral votes shall be reduced in the proportion that the popular vote at that election bears to the State's total population of voting age

CLIFFORD P. CASE

No responsible person will wan. to pass fina. udgment on this proposal without caretu: reading of two highly important articles:

The Will of the People, by Carl Becker, appearing in the Yale Review or March 1915, vol. XXXIV No. 3. reprinted at p. 281 of the transcript of the hearings before Subcommittee To. 1 of the House Com mittee on the Judiciary, 81st Cong., 1st sess., on H. J. Res. 2; and

Presidential Elections and the Constitution: A Comment on Proposed Amendment, by Herbert Wechsler, appearing in the American Bar Association Journal for March 1949, vol. 35, No. 3, reprinted at p. 163 of the transcript of the hearings before a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. 81st Cong., 1st sess., on S. J. Res. 2.

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1st Session

No. 1012

CONSIDERATION OF H. R. 4708

JULY 12, 1949.-Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

Mr. LYLE, from the Committee on Rules, submitted the following

REPORT

'To accompany H. Res. 2801

The Committee on Rules, having had under consideration House Resolution 280, report the same to the House with the recommendation that the resolution do pass.

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two individuals would have been the successful candidates. On the other hand, during the same period the operation of the Lodge-Gossett resolution would have resulted in the election of two other persons who received fewer popular votes than their opponents who, under the present system, were the successful candidates. So that, assuming no change in the voting habits of the people, the result would have been a stand-off.

The proponents of the Lodge-Gossett resolution argue, of course, that under different rules we should have had a different result because of the greater activity of minority parties in the so-called safe States, and the greater interest of members of such parties in Presidential elections. For the reasons given above, it is submitted that more restrictions, rather than fewer, would be placed upon the franchise in the safe States, that the safe States would be made even safer, and that future elections under the Lodge-Gossett resolution would be far less representative of the popular will than has been the case in the past under our present system.

CONCLUSION

It is most strongly recommended that the Lodge-Gossett resolution be amended so as to limit its effect to the following:

1. The elimination of the electoral college, retaining the assignment of electoral votes to the States on the present basis.

2. The granting to the people, as a constitutional right. of a direct vote for presidential and vice presidential candidates.

3. The provision for the election of the President and Vice President by a simple plurality of electoral votes. with the additional proviso that, if no candidate should receive 35 percent of the electoral votes, the election would go into the House of Representatives with one vote for each Member of the House, rather than one vote for each State.

The proposed division of each State's electoral votes in proportion to the popular vote in that State would cut deeply and, it is believed. dangerously into the fabric of our American institutions.' It would result in further restriction of the franchise in the "safe" States. It would entrench even more firmly than at present one-party domination in those States. Lessening the necessity for attention by the two major parties to the legitimate interests of minority groups, it would dangerously weaken the two-party system. It would be body blow to any effective program of civil rights.

It would be far better that this proposed change be not made. But if such a change should be contemplated, it should in no event be approved by the Congress unless there is added to it a provision that in each presidential election a State's electoral votes shall be reduced in the proportion that the popular vote at that election bears to the State's total population of voting age

CLIFFORD P. CASE

No responsible person will wan. to pass fina. udgment on this proposal without caretu: reading of two highly important articles:

The Will of the People, by Carl Becker, appearing in the Yale Review or March 1945, vol. XXXIV No. 3, reprinted at p. 281 of the transcript of the hearings before Subcommittee To. 1 of the House Com mittee on the Judiciary. 81st Cong., 1st sess.. on H. J. Res. 2; and

Presidential Elections and the Constitution: A Comment on Proposed Amendment, by Herbert Wechsler, appearing in the American Bar Association Journal for March 1949, vol. 35, No. 3, reprinted at p. 163 of the transcript of the hearings before a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. 81st Cong., 1st sess.. on S. J. Res. 2.

CONSIDERATION OF H. R. 4708

JULY 12, 1949. Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed

Mr. LYLE, from the Committee on Rules, submitted the following

REPORT

'To accompany H. Res. 2801

The Committee on Rules, having had under consideration House Resolution 280, report the same to the House with the recommendation that the resolution do pass.

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