Nine House Democrats have introduced a bill to abolish
the Electoral College via constitutional amendment.
The resolution proposes: “An amendment to the Constitution of the United States to abolish the Electoral College and to provide for the direct election of the President and Vice President of the United States.”
The proposal rebukes
the Electoral College as originally created and with this justification for the
amendment: “In an era of limited
nationwide communication and information sharing and resting on an antiquated
theory that citizens will have a better chance of knowing about electors from
their home States than about Presidential candidates from out of State. The
development of mass media and the internet has made information about
Presidential candidates easily accessible to United States citizens across the
country and around the world.”
The bill proposal includes
a seven-section article to be added to the Constitution emphasizing these
points:
Article —
“Section 1.
“The President and Vice President shall be elected by the
people of the several States and the district constituting the seat of
government of the United States.
“Section 2.
“The electors in each State shall have the qualifications
requisite for electors of the most populous branch of the legislature of the
State; although Congress may establish uniform age qualifications.
“Section 3.
“Each elector shall cast a single vote for two persons who
have consented to the joining of their names as candidates for President and
Vice President. No elector shall be prohibited from casting a vote for a candidate
for President or Vice President because either candidate, or both, are
inhabitants of the same State as the elector.
“Section 4.
“The pair of candidates having the greatest number of votes
for President and Vice President shall be elected.
“Section 5.
“The times, places, and manner of holding such elections and
entitlement to inclusion on the ballot shall be determined by Congress.
“Section 6.
“The Congress may by
law provide for the case of the death or any other disqualification of any
candidate for President or Vice President before the day on which the
President-elect or Vice President-elect has been chosen; and for the case of a
tie in any election.
“Section 7.
“This article shall take effect one year after the first day
of January following ratification.”
Authors of the bill
include: Rep. Steve Cohen (TN); Rep. Zoe Lofgren (CA): Rep. Jan Schakowsky
(IL); Rep. Anna Eshoo (CA); Rep. Julia Brownley (CA); Peter DeFazio (OR); Rep.
Adriano Espaillat (NY); Rep. John Garamendi (CA); and Rep. Jim Cooper
(TN).
They introduced the bill on January 11, which will be referred to the House Judiciary Committee.
My 2 cents: A very good
idea that has wide national support and one that is long overdue. I hope the
Dems are not moving too fast biting off more than they can chew this early on,
however, even though I support the concept and don’t want to see it move slowly
and take years to accomplish like some constitutional amendments in the past.
The process is this way (in a nutshell): The Constitution provides
that an amendment may be proposed either by (1) the Congress with a two-thirds
majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, or by (2) a
constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures.
Note: None of the 27
amendments to the Constitution have been proposed by constitutional convention.
The Congress proposes an amendment in the form of a joint resolution.
Since the President does
not have a constitutional role in the amendment process, the joint resolution
does not go to the White House for signature or approval.
Details are here from the
National Archives.
We shall see – stay tuned
– updates will follow as they are made.
Thanks for stopping by.
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