Word: electors
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...disgruntled right-winger, two Democrats last week challenged the wayward Republican's vote. Maine's Senator Edmund Muskie, the defeated vice-presidential nominee, and Michigan Representative James O'Hara invoked an 1887 statute under which a majority of both houses may reject any vote by an elector that has not been "regularly given." The motion was soundly defeated, but the two Democrats believe that they have made a point. Said Muskie: "I hope that the consequences of Congress' action are understood by all Americans-and by Congress itself...
...Bailey is the sixth elector in U.S. history to defy his party. The others: Pennsylvanian Samuel Miles, chosen as a Federalist, voted for Thomas Jefferson rather than John Adams in 1796; former Senator William Plumer of New Hampshire voted for John Quincy Adams rather than James Monroe, 1820; Preston Parks of Tennessee voted for Strom Thurmond instead of Harry Truman, 1948; W. F. Turner of Alabama voted for a circuit judge instead of Adlai Stevenson, 1956; Henry D. Irwin of Oklahoma ignored his pledge to Nixon and voted for Virginia Senator Harry Byrd...
...electors, usually party regulars selected in state conventions well before the November election, are committed by tradition in most states to vote for their party's candidate. However, the electors are generally free to vote for anyone who meets the constitutional requirements of age, residence and citizenship. In 1960, for example, one Republican elector from Oklahoma voted for Virginia's Senator Harry F. Byrd...
Unless he is an elector, no American votes directly for the "President of his choice." Instead, voters in each state decide between slates of opposing electors chosen by the contending parties. In Kansas, for example, voters who put their X beside Richard Nixon's name this Nov. 5 will actually be choosing seven Republicans, among them Dean S. Evans Sr., 47, a Salina grain and cattle dealer and regular party contributor. Kansans who prefer Hubert Humphrey will actually vote for seven Democrats, including Mrs. Georgia Neese Clark Gray, 68, a Topeka bank president and U.S. Treasurer under Harry Truman...
Even while George Washington held office the new American nation was moving toward a two-party system. Though the Founding Fathers had intended the electors to choose the two best men in the land to be President and Vice President, the nominating function was quickly grabbed by the parties. In 1796, when one Federalist elector in Pennsylvania voted for the opposition, an exasperated colleague uttered the now classic definition of the elector's job: "What, do I chuse Samuel Miles to determine for me whether John Adams or Thomas Jefferson shall be President? No! I chuse...