Published January 1989 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Should the Electoral College Be Abolished? On January 4, Vice President Bush was formally declared the winner of last year's Presidential election. President-elect Bush's victory was not directly, however, the millions of votes that he won in November's popular vote. Instead, the deciding election was the Electoral College vote officially tallied in December. According to the Electoral College vote, Vice President Bush received 426 votes, Governor Dukakis received 111 votes, and Senator Lloyd Bentsen received one vote. Interestingly, that one vote for Bentsen was cast by a West Virginia elector, who voted as she did, reportedly, as a protest against the Electoral College system, under which, technically, voters choose state electors who, in turn, elect the President. This West Virginia elector makes an interesting point. Though Electoral College candidates normally pledge themselves to vote for the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates offered by their respective parties, they are not constitutionally or legally required to do so. In fact, nowhere in the U.S. Constitution is provision made for the direct, popular election of the President or Vice President. Moreover, in the Presidential election of 1876, Samuel Tilden won the popular vote, but Rutherford B. Hayes was chosen President by the Electoral College. Again, in 1888, Grover Cleveland was reelected by popular vote, but lost the Presidency to Benjamin Harrison on the electoral vote. Those most opposed to the Electoral College system point out that this arrangement was put in place because some of the framers of the Constitution distrusted their fellow citizens to choose the Chief Executive wisely. Indeed, until the 17th Amendment was ratified in 1913, the Constitution made no provision for the direct election of U.S. Senators. Perhaps the lone West Virginia elector who voiced her opinion on the Electoral College with her vote for Lloyd Bentsen has a point. Perhaps the time has come to rethink the practice of allowing the Electoral College to decide the final outcome of Presidential elections. January 11, 1989