Behind the Headlines Tampering with the Electoral College

Jewish organizations are lining up in apposition to a proposed constitutional amendment eliminating the electoral college because they fear it would diminish the influence of Jews and other minorities on national politics. This danger is also being cited by Black groups; many of which are also going on record as apposing the amendment providing for the direct election of the President and Vice President.

Most major Jewish organizations have taken an official stand against the legislation an opposition that is expected to become more vocal once the amendment reaches the floor of the House and Senate. No Jewish organization is reportedly officially in favor of the amendment although at least one group that originally supported it now has decided to take no position at all.

The Black community is reportedly more divided, although the Black Leadership Forum, a coalition of 16 organizations, including the Urban League and the NAACP, voted Feb. 12 to retain the electoral system. Other ethnic minority groups in the United States may also join the opposition.

The Black-Jewish opposition to the amendment was demonstrated today when Howard Squadron, president of the American Jewish Congress and Vernon Jordan, president of the Urban League testified against the bill at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on the Constitution headed by Birch Bayh (D.Ind.), who introduced the amendment.

NATURE OF BAYH’S PROPOSAL

Bayh’s bill provides that the candidate for President and his Vice Presidential running mate receiving the most votes across the country would be elected, eliminating the electoral college and their weighted influence. If no candidate receives more than 40 percent of the vote, a runoff between the top two states would decide the election. The amendment has to receive approval of two-thirds of both Houses of Congress and then most be ratified by 33 of the 50 states.

The new system would not go into effect until two years after final ratification, according to the Bayh proposal. This means that it could not be in operation before the 1984 elections, although it could take even longer.

Bayh originally proposed his amendment in 1970 at a time when there was some fear, because of the popularity demonstrated by Alabama Governor George Wallace in the 1968 campaign that a third party could get enough votes in the electoral college to throw the election to the House of Representatives, something that happened only once in American history. Another fear is that there would be enough electors who might not vote for the candidate who received the highest margin in their state to force a House vote, something that has not been done by more than 10 persons. Also expressed is the fear that a candidate could win the popular vote and lose in the electoral college, which happened only once, in 1888.

In 1970 the Bayh Amendment breezed through the House but was bogged down in the Senate by a filibuster. However, this time President Carter has taken a stand in favor of the amendment.

Carter was elected in 1976 with 297 electoral votes to President Ford’s 244, the smallest margin since Woodrow Wilson in 1912. A switch of less than 10,000 votes in a state such as Ohio could have given the Presidency to Ford. At the same time, Carter’s popular vote margin was also small. He received 49.9 percent of the vote compared to 47.9 percent by Ford.

While the proposed amendment appears to provide for a more democratic election, Jewish groups point out that it would damage the pluralistic system of American society and under the checks and balances system under which American government has flourished since the adoption of the Constitution.

VIEWS OF JEWISH LEADERS

Will Maslow, general counsel of the A Congress, in a memorandum, pointed out that politics influence of Blacks and Jews in Presidential elections derives from their large numbers in key states and that “they tend at least in Presidential elections to vote in a bloc.” He argued that because of this, “the political parties are sensitive to the interests of Jews and Blacks both in their selection of candidates and in the adoption of party platforms in a system of direct election, however, where a vote in one state is equal to a vote in another, that influence will be lost.”

This view was echoed by Nathan Perlmutter national director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, who said he believes the retention of the electoral college is “central” to the democratic process in the United States. He explained that the electoral college ensures that the Presidential candidates will “listen to minorities.” this category, he listed not only Jews and Black but also labor, business, farmers, among the various groups that make up this country.

Bertram Gold, executive vice president of the American Jewish Committee, also said that his organization sees the removal of the electoral college system as a “disservice to all minority groups” as well as the nation as a whole.

Other dangers cited by those apposed to changing the system is that direct election would encourage the proliferation of single-issue candidates and the increase in small parties might prevent a major party candidate from achieving even the 40 percent of the vote required in the Bayh Amendment. There is also the fear that-direct elections will discourage the parties from their present inclination to seek candidates that will bring all factions together and instead select more charismatic candidates holding extreme views.

FUTURE OF THE AMENDMENT

None of the opponents of the amendment were able to predict how the Bayh Amendment would do in the current Congress. Much may depend on how strongly the Carter Administration supports it and whether a national consensus can be mounted either in favor or against the change.

Perhaps, a compromise on the Bayh Amendment will be worked out in which electors, for example, will be required to vote for the candidate who gathers the most popular votes in their state. This proposal was originally supported by Carter but after he became President he was persuaded to back the Bayh Amendment completely eliminating the electoral college.

So far, the issue of eliminating the electoral college has not received much public attention. This is a situation that is expected to change in the next few months.