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Officials say voting
process will stay same
By Laura Pelner
Assistant
City Editor
In the past 200 years, more
amendments were proposed to abolish the Electoral College than any other
political institution and not one of those amendments was ratified.
Barbara Reres, the executive
assistant to former Indiana Senator Democrat Birch Bayh, said, "There
have been more than 700 amendments filed in Congress to change the Electoral
College — none have obviously gone anywhere."
When Bayh was a senator,
from 1963 to 1981, he was on a committee that studied the Electoral
College for five years.
Reres said, "They took
testimony from all sectors in the U.S., the public and the legal and
political aspects. They built a coalition to repeal the Electoral College."
Their appeal to abolish the
Electoral College passed through the House of Representatives in 1979
but did not go through the Senate. "They only needed seven more
votes for a majority passage," said Reres.
In light of this year’s
election where it looks like one candidate, Democratic Vice President
Al Gore, will win the popular vote and the other candidate, Republican
Gov. George W. Bush, will win in the Electoral College, there may be
an attempt to change the system again.
William Shaffer, the head
of the political science department, said, "People will be interested
in introducing some kind of change. The rationale usually is why not
have the majority of the population choose (the president)."
Reres said that Bayh agrees
with this idea. "He thought, and still thinks, it’s an abominable
system," said Reres. "He thinks if you’re elected by
a majority of the popular vote, then the people have spoken."
Shaffer said that this election
is atypical, which only adds more dislike to the Electoral College.
"Usually what happens is that the electoral vote exaggerates the
margin of victory of the popular vote. But every once in a while an
election like this might come along," said Shaffer.
Adding an amendment to the
constitution is not an easy process; a proposed amendment must be passed
by two-thirds of Congress and then be ratified by three-fourths of the
states, or two-thirds of the state legislatures can call for a Constitutional
convention to deliberate an amendment.
"A constitutional amendment
is not a quick deal. The question is, will we be able to generate the
kind of intensity, energy level and sustained commitment to ratify a
constitutional amendment," said Shaffer. "And the answer is
probably not, but that’s a guess."
Reres said that she thinks
Bayh feels the same way. "I think his feeling at this point is
that the chances of amending the Constitution are unlikely. If we assume
the Florida vote comes out for Bush, how are you going to get any of
the Republican vote to abolish the system that elected their candidate?
And with the splits they’re going to have in the Senate, it will
be hard anyway," said Reres.
Shaffer stressed how rare
amendments are. "We’ve only had 27 in our entire history,"
said Shaffer. "The last amendment we passed, which says Congress
cannot raise its own pay, was ratified on May 8, 1992. The 26th amendment,
which gave 18-year-olds the right to vote, was in 1971. The one before
that was in 1965."
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Officials
explain voter turnout statistics
Officials
say voting
process will stay same
BMV
closes, awaits relocation
CITY DESK PHONE:
(765) 743-1111
ext. 250
City editor: Erica
Sagon
Assistant city editor:
Laura Pelner
To
send a letter to the editor, please email opinions@purdueexponent.org
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