ELECTION DEFECTS

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31920, 22 February 1969, Page 13

ELECTION DEFECTS

Nixon Urges Reform CIV.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) WASHINGTON, Feb. 21. President Nixon made, an urgent appeal to Congress yesterday to reform the United States Presidential voting procedure and eliminate defects revealed by the 1968 election.

Mr Nixon asked Congress to give reform its earliest attention. He proposed giving states electoral ballots in proportion to the popular vote cast, making 40 per cent of the total vote sufficient to choose a President and abolishing individual electors. To make these reforms both houses of Congress would have to, approve them by a two-thirds vote, and then three-fourth’s of the 50 states must ratify them to amend the constitution. Under the present constitution, a candidate receives all of a state’s electoral votes if he receives the highest nurhber of popular votes cast. Each state is given one electoral vote for each of its two senators and one for each of its representatives. At Presidential elections, the voters cast ballots for the electors who are pledged to specific candidates, but are not always legally required to cast their vote for their candidate in the Electoral College.