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Show HomE x TOUin S0?yr. H . IN WASHINGTON Voters' Weak Voice TF you are a member of the Demo-cratic Demo-cratic or the Republican party you have a weak, diluted voice in , the naming of a president of the : United States. If you are an in-i in-i dependent voter your say about tho presidency is practically nil. This is an amazing fact, but nevertheless true. The threatened bolt of southern states from the j Democratic party and the proposed I action of Virginia to remove names of presidential candidates from the ballot has pointed up the intricate and complicated process by which we name our presidents and how little voters actually have to say about it. It goes back to the constitutional provision setting up our eleotoral system providing for appointment of .presidential eelctors in such manner man-ner as state legislatures may direct, but holding such electors under no constitutional compulsion to vote for any particular candidate. For many years, however, under our election system these presidential electors are held as morally bound to vote for the party winner in their state. So , long has this been custom, there . are some who maintain that the courts would hold that it has been legalized by practice. In only 18 states, however, i3 there any provision to - give the voter a chance to make- himself heard in a primary election of delegates dele-gates to the national nominating conventions. Only 10 of them have a ballot which allows the voter to indicate his preference among presidential presi-dential candidates and only nine make provision for pledging delegates. dele-gates. In the other SO states local or state party conventions choose delegates to national conventions and the only chance the average' voter has to express a preference', for delegates is in the small precinct pre-cinct unit. After that the whole -thing is in the hands of the party bosses in county, district or state conventions. In tlte 10 states providing for a presidential primary Georgia, Florida, Flor-ida, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin the vote is woefully small in comparison to total vote and only in Florida, Ohio, Oregon Ore-gon and Wisconsin are delegates pledged to a particular candidate. In only five states are convention-elected convention-elected delegates pledged to a candid date California, Massachusetts,, New Hampshire, New Jersey and South Dakota. . . . South Lost Influence Southern states objecting to Mr. Truman's civil rights program complain com-plain they lost their influence within the Democratic party when the two-thirds two-thirds rule for nomination was abolished abol-ished in 1936. But under this year's distribution of 1,234 delegates in the national Democratic convention even the two-thirds two-thirds rule would not give the South a veto either on the nomination or the platform. It reguires 618 votes for a simple majority. Under the two-thirds rule it would require 824 votes and 411 votes would block action, but the 11 states in the Solid South have only 294 votes. These same stales have 127 electoral votes out of 531 in the electrol college. With the exception excep-tion of 1916, for 50 years the traditional pattern of presidential presiden-tial elections has been that when ;he Deraocratics have won, the Democratic majority has been sufficient without the South and when the Republicans won, defection de-fection of the South would have made no difference. Rep. Clarence F. Lea of California Cali-fornia has had a resolution before congress for many years to give the people a direct vote for presi-dent presi-dent and vice-president. Rep. Estea Kefauver of Tennesse and Kep. Ed Cosset of Texas have similar resolutions resolu-tions pending. Under these resolutions resolu-tions each state would retain the same number of electoral votes it now has but would divide them among the candidates in the same proportions as the popular votes are divided. For instance if a candidate got 51 per cent of the New York state vote he would get 51 per cent of the state's 47 electoral votes, not 100 per cent as at present. This would minimize ' the " influence of minority groups in some northern states which sometimes hold the balance of power in those states. Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge of Mass achusetts also is sponsoring a constitutional con-stitutional amendment to abolish the electoral college and provide direct election of the president. Electoral Practice In the 1944 election President Roosevelt received 54 per cent of the popular vote and 81 per cent of the electoral college while Governor Gov-ernor Dewey, who got 46 per cent of the popular vote, received only 19 per cent of the electoral college. Under our present practice selec tion of electors is a formality but if Virginia or other states permil independent judgment of electors their qualifications become as im portant as any other candidate. i |