appointed in each State convention, and twice as many district delegates as the State has Congressmen. The district delegates are usually appointed in district conventions. Each Territory, as well as the District of Columbia, is entitled to six delegates. In the Republican National Convention a majority vote for any candidate secures the nomination, but in the Democratic Convention a two-thirds vote is required. National Committees, consisting of one member from each State and Territory, are appointed by each of the great parties to conduct the political campaign for the election of the nominee of the party. The delegates of each State appoint the member of the National Committee for their individual State, while the Presidential nominee of a party practically selects the chairman of the National Committee of his party.

At the State convention of each political party, a ticket of Presidential Electors for that party is nominated. Thus, before the time arrives for the holding of the Presidential election, each party has nominated candidates for President and Vice President, and has also named Presidential Electors in each State. Territories have no Electors.

On election day the people in all the States vote for Presidential Electors. The Electors receiving the highest number of votes in each State are declared elected. In some States the Electors were formerly chosen by Congressional districts, but now the Electors are chosen on a general State ticket, and thus the Electoral vote becomes solid in each State. Occasionally, however, where the vote is close in a State, the voting of split tickets may divide the Electoral vote of a State. Thus in 1892, Ohio gave twenty-two votes for Harrison and one for Cleveland, because the vote was so close; California gave eight for Cleveland and one for Harrison for the same

reason. Oregon gave three votes for Harrison and one for Weaver, because one of the Electors on the Populist ticket was also on the Democratic ticket. Michigan gave nine votes for Harrison and five for Cleveland, because the State Legislature provided for voting that year by Congressional districts. In North Dakota, two Populist Electors were chosen and one Republican; but one Populist exercised the freedom of choice which nominally the Presidential Electors have, and cast his vote for Cleveland. Although the divided Electoral vote is unusual, it is under the present conditions not impossible that in some close election, enough Presidential Electors might be induced to vote for a candidate to whom they were not nominally pledged and thus defeat the will of the party that has chosen the majority of Electors. An amendment to the Constitution, covering this ground of danger, would make it impossible thus to defeat the will of the party rightfully entitled to the victory.

Meeting of the Electors. On the second Monday in January following their election, the Presidential Electors meet in their respective States, usually at the State capital, and vote by ballot for President and Vice President, one of whom at least must not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves. Three distinct lists are made of all the persons voted for as President, and also the number of votes each received. Three separate lists are also made of all the persons voted for as Vice President, and the number of votes each received. These lists are signed, certified, and sealed. Three certificates or "returns" are made from the six lists, in order to insure the safe arrival of one, at least, at Washington. One return is deposited with the judge of the United States Court of the district in which the Electors meet. The other two certificates or returns are sent to the President of

the Senate at Washington, one by special messenger, and one by mail. The envelopes of all the certificates bear the address of the President of the Senate. If from any cause the messenger should fail to deliver his certificate, and the one sent by mail be lost, the President of the Senate may then send for the certificate deposited with the judge of the District Court. Whatever may have been the original intention in the establishment of the Electoral College, it has become simply the registering machine of the popular vote. When the Electoral College has sent in its returns its duty is done and it ceases to exist.

Counting the Votes.-On the second Wednesday of February the President of the Senate, in the presence of the Senators and Representatives in joint convention assembled, opens the sealed certificates from all the States, and the votes are counted. The person having a majority of all the Electoral votes for President is declared elected. Also the person having the majority of all the Electoral votes cast for Vice President is declared elected (Am. 12).

In the method of voting (L 2) in use until 1804, each Elector wrote down two names without stating which person he desired as President. The candidate who received the largest vote, provided it was a majority of the whole number, was declared President; the candidate with the next largest number was declared Vice President. As a result of this plan, Adams in 1797 became President, and his antagonist Jefferson, became Vice President, because the Adams men were not united in their choice for Vice President. In 1801 this plan of voting gave Jefferson and Burr the same number of votes, and threw the election into the House of Representatives, although it was well understood that the Electors who voted for Jefferson and Burr wished Jefferson for President

and Burr for Vice President. If one of the opposing Electors had been unprincipled enough to cast a vote for Burr, instead of for his own candidate, Burr would have been elected President and the will of the people defeated.

By the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution, declared in force in 1804, the present method was adopted.

Election by the House. If no person has a majority of all the Electoral votes, the House of Representatives proceeds immediately, by ballot, to choose a President from the three candidates receiving the highest number of Electoral votes. In such election the voting is done by States, that is, each State has one vote. The vote of each State is determined by the majority of the Representatives of that State. When a vote for President is taken in the House of Representatives, two thirds of all the States must be represented in order to have a quorum, and a majority of all the votes by States is necessary to a choice (Am. 12).

There have been two elections of a President by the House of Representatives. Thomas Jefferson was thus chosen in 1801, and John Quincy Adams in 1825. Both of these elections caused great excitement. In the second, the Electoral votes had been divided among four candidates. Andrew Jackson had received 99 votes; John Quincy Adams, 84; William H. Crawford, 41; and Henry Clay, 37. When the election was thrown into the House of Representatives, Adams received the votes of 13 States; Jackson, the votes of 7 States; and Crawford, the votes of 4 States. John Quincy Adams, having received the vote of a majority of all the States, was declared elected.

If the House of Representatives, whenever the right of choice devolves upon them, shall fail to elect a President before March 4 following, then the Vice President becomes

President as in the case of the death, removal, or resignation of the President.

It is proper that under the circumstances of a failure of the Electoral College to elect a President, the choice should devolve upon the House of Representatives. The House is the direct representative of the people, and at any given time is politically in closer touch with the sentiment of the

voters.

When the Senate may Elect the Vice President. If there is no election of a Vice President by a majority of the Presidential Electors, then, from the two highest on the list of those voted for, the Senate proceeds to choose the Vice President. Two thirds of the whole number of Senators constitutes a quorum for such election; and a majority of the whole number is necessary to a choice.

The Senate is properly given the choice of its own presiding officer, and this also adds greater security. Had the House of Representatives the power to elect both President and Vice President, a disagreement might cause the failure to elect either before inauguration day, and the country would have no Executive.

The only opportunity which the Senate has had to exercise this power was in 1837, when Richard M. Johnson was chosen Vice President.

A Minority President.-A President who fails to receive a majority of the popular vote is called a "Minority President." Thus, in 1892, the total popular vote was 12,059,351, and a majority vote would have been 6,029,676 votes. But Cleveland received only 5,556,918 votes; that is, 472,758 votes less than a majority. Yet the entire Electoral vote was 444, of which a majority was 223 votes. Cleveland received 277 Electoral votes, and was declared elected.