Word: electorate
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Nothing in the Constitution forbids the use of unpledged electors or prevents an individual elector from exercising his personal judgment in voting. In fact, such individual discretion was clearly the intention of the framers, for whatever that is worth. But, as the electoral system has evolved toward universal suffrage, the pledged elector has necessarily become the rule rather than the exception...
...Vote. South Dakota's Senator Karl Mundt, a Republican who has long dreamed of uniting Northern and Southern conservatives in a single political party, leads a campaign to bring the presidential election somewhat closer to a proportional vote than it is now. He would divide each state into electoral districts, each nearly equal in population, have the voters in each district choose one elector, plus two "at large'' electors to be selected statewide. Under such a system, says Mundt, "the present inordinate power of organized pressure groups in the big-city states would be reduced to proper...
Such mechanical extravagance became particularly popular in Germany. A gilded brass Krippe was presented in about 1589 to Elector Christian I by his wife, Sophia. When wound up, a globe on top opens, showing God surrounded by angels; a wall below slides back to reveal the manger, angels come down from heaven to music, Joseph rocks the cradle, the ox and ass rise from their knees, and the shepherds march in, followed by the kings...
...candidates-some 100,000 of them -campaigned right through election day. Ministers and imams, grocers and streetcar conductors, they handshook their way right up to the polling boxes, passed out slips of colored paper with their names printed in helpfully large letters. The most conscientious elector (compelled to vote, or pay a $3 fine), retiring to his polling booth with a list of candidates six pages long, had a tough time finding as many as 30 names that he could recognize and mark. It took President Nasser himself four minutes to vote, though the day before he had gone over...
...jewel-box theater was built during the reign of Elector Maximilian III Joseph (1745-77), of linden wood from the forests of Murnau, following the design of French Architect Francois de Cuvillies. In 1781 it was the scene of the first performance of Mozart's Idomeneo. But early in the 19th century the Bavarian court lost its taste for curlicues, and for a time the rococo theater served merely as storage place for scenery...