Any number of other possibilities might be conjured up for examination. Some already existing state agency might be utilized, there could be a resort to chance, some objective standards might be applied as a final test between the contending candidates, a run-off election following the same lines as the initial expression might be in order, and so forth. All of these may be rejected merely by stating them, although each would have certain merit. One final possible alternative to the present system may be noted more carefully.

Senate joint resolution 200 of the Eightieth Congress, a predecessor of the Lodge-Gossett Amendment which passed the Senate of the succeeding Congress, provided that in case a computation of its figures resulted in a tie "then the one for whom the greatest number of popular votes were cast shall be President."12 This proposal would give the nation every chance to make a decision according to its federal principles, but it says that if the recognition of the states, as such, results in an absolute equality, then the deadlock is to be resolved by a resort to the theory of a unitary government.

The use of a single executive constituency prevails in forty-seven of the states (all but Georgia) in connection with the election of the governors. It is not a foreign idea. In order for the voice of the people to be heard directly under the proposal embodied in the above resolution, it would first have to come so close to hurdling the federal obstacles that only the narrowest possible margin prevented its success. The people of the few most populous states could dominate the final determination of the next President only by achieving a complete unanimity. This they have never been able to do. The unit vote, which bestows an artificial unanimity on each of the states, would play no part in the proposal to solve the election by an eventual reliance upon the aggregate popular vote. The winner of such a closely contested election would have received a federalistic support equal to that of his nearest opponent and a unitary-type backing that was greater. Some distortion of the popular vote might create the tie to begin with, but this would not be compounded by any further juggling of figures. Neither congressmen nor special electors would be given the opportunity to flout the will of the people. No bargains and no switching of votes could occur. The entire decision would be based upon the single popular

12 Amending the Constitution with Respect to Election of President and Vice-President (To Abolish the Electoral College System, Etc.) Hearing before a subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 80th Cong., 2d Sess., April 26, 1948 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1948), p. 2, or see other records of the 80th Congress.

suffrage, construed first one way and then another. No new opportunities for maneuvering or campaigning would be made available. This is by far the simplest and most adequate method of solving a deadlock. If no other change in the electoral college system is made, this one would be worthwhile. In the absence of such a remedial amendment, there remains a stronger argument for abolition of the electoral college mode than would otherwise be the case.

The only adverse criticism that may be directed against a final reference to the popular vote to break an electoral deadlock is that it would make for a peaceful and sure solution of any deadlock, so that the people would be satisfied to perpetuate the other unsatisfactory but hidden parts of the election machinery. Perhaps a highly agitated choice of a President by the House of Representatives is the catalyst required to bring about the total reform that the nation needs. One deadlocked election in the twentieth century would probably be the last presidential election under the electoral college system.

The present method of solving an electoral deadlock for either the presidency or vice-presidency,13 and most of the proposed reforms, are seriously lacking in their respect for orderly, legal, and representative government. The most acceptable manner of concluding a suspended election would be a resort to the popular vote.

The inescapable conclusion to this entire discussion is that it has dealt with an irksome problem that should never be raised. The system of presidential election should be so constructed as to avoid any possibility of deadlock. This would require the abolition of the electors as they exist today, and an abandonment of the ficticious majority requirement. As is apparent from even a cursory perusal of the other articles in this Manual, the objections to the present manner of resolving electoral deadlocks constitute only one of many arguments for abolition of the electoral. college system.

13 The Twelfth Amendment provides for the vice-presidency in much the same way as for the presidency, except that only the two highest candidates may be considered. The Senate, however, is constructed to operate in terms of state equality at all times. Offsetting this slight advantage is the serious defect involved in the possibility that the Senate might choose a Vice-President from the party in opposition to the President.

(The following is a study prepared by Walter Kravitz, History and Government Division, Legislative Reference Service, Library of Congress, dated December 7, 1960.)

History

RESIDENCE REQUIREMENTS FOR VOTING

Residence requirements as a qualification for voting in this country date back to colonial days. The practice was probably imported from England where the question was treated as early as 1413.' But while its application atrophied in England,' the American colonies, and later the States, gradually elaborated upon their earlier requirements.

During the first decades of the 18th century, only four colonies defined the length of residence they required within their territories as a whole: 2 years in Pennsylvania and Delaware; 6 months in Georgia; and 1 year in North Carolina. Other colonies prescribed local requirements, as did some cities.* By the time the Revolution only three of the Thirteen Colonies prescribed no specific duration of residence: Connecticut, Virginia, and South Carolina. But these three did demand property qualifications."

According to some authorities, property, qualifications were of greater significance than residence requirements in restricting suffrage during the early years of the Republic. "When a person resided in a community long enough to acquire property or to pay taxes, it was assumed in some States that he had become sufficiently familiar with State and local affairs to cast an intelligent vote, and moreover that he had a financial interest which would move him to inform himself about candidates.""

During the first half of the 19th century, property and tax qualifications were abolished. To replace these restrictions the suffrage laws were amended to include new tests, and among these were more elaborate and more stringent residence requirements."

By 1860 only Indiana and New Hampshire, among the 34 States then in the Union, had no residence laws relating to voting. The most widespread requirement, demanded by 17 States, was for 1 year's residence. Three States required 2 years, and seven others 6 months. County, town, or parish residence requirements were also prevalent; 6 months in nine States, 1 month in six States, and anywhere from 3 months to 1 year in the others. Only three States specified requirements for election districts."

By the time of the Civil War, the geographical pattern as to greater or lesser stringency of residence laws was already established. The Middle Western and Western States, eager to attract immigrants and more egalitarian in political

1 Bishop, Cortlandt F. History of elections in the American colonies. New York, Columbia College, 1893. p. 69.

2 The laws requiring electors to reside within the counties in which their freeholds were situated were repealed in 1774." Ibid. "In England, Scotland and Wales, it is enough that as [sic] an elector should be resident in a constituency on the registration day; the law used to specify a longer period ** but this vanished in 1918." MacKenzie, William J. M. Free elections; an elementary textbook. New York, Rinehart, 1958. p. 23.

3 Bishop, op. cit., p. 67.

In Rhode Island no person could vote except in the town where he lived. North Carolina, sometime before 1734, reduced its requirement to 6 months residence within the precinct. In South Carolina, in 1704, a personal residence in the county and precinct for 3 months "next preceding the date of the writs for the election" was required. In 1716 this was changed to 6 months residence in the province and parish, and in 1721 residence was fixed at 1 year within the county. The cities of New York and Albany had 3-month requirements for freemen, and Williamburg, Va., prescribed an actual residence of 12 months. Ibid., pp. 67-68. In New Jersey according to the law of Aug. 23, 1725: "any individual whose right to vote was questioned by a candidate or by any of the election officials had to take an oath or affirmation to the effect that he had been a resident freeholder in the county or town for 1 year." McCormick, Richard P. The history of voting in New Jersey; a study of the development of election machinery, 1664-1911. New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University Press, 1953. p. 50.

Thorpe, Francis Newton. A constitutional history of the American people, 17761850. New York, Harper, 1898. pp. 93-97. Vermont's constitution of 1777 required 1

year's residence in the State.

McKean, Dayton David. Party and pressure politics. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1949. See also, Porter, Kirk N. A history of suffrage in the United States. Chicago,

University of Chicago Press, 1918. p. 14.

7 Ibid., p. 145.

Ibid., p. 148.

spirit, tended to adopt less restrictive measures, while the East and South maintained more rigorous tests. This pattern was reinforced during the period 18901908 when many Southern States revised their constitutions. Numerous voting restrictions were adopted in these revisions for the generally acknowledged purpose of disfranchising the Negro. The Mississippi Constitution of 1890 and the Alabama Constitution of 1901, which were widely imitated in the South, incorporated a variety of restrictive measures including clauses which raised the State residence requirement from 1 to 2 years. The Mississippi law also de manded 1 year's residence in the election district or in the incorporated city or town.10 Alabama required 1 year in the county and 3 months in the precinct." "The lengthy residence requirements was expected to bear more heavily on Negroes because of their supposedly peripatetic habits." 12

Current requirements

The Constitution of the United States indirectly delivers into the hands of the States responsibility for setting voters' qualifications in Federal elections. Consequently, the Nation appears to have ridden off in almost as many directions as there are States.

As of the 1960 general election, some 40 different combinations of State, county, precinct, and city residence durations were in use by the 50 States. State residence requirements range from 6 months to 2 years, with some States waiving all or part of the requirement in voting for President and Vice President (see "Contemporary Trends" below). County-residence requirements vary from none at all to 1 year, and the qualifications for smaller political units cover the same range. The most popular requirements are: in State, 1 year; in county, 3 months; in locality, 30 days. In fact, six States actually have all these provisions.13

Table I lists the detailed requirements for each State. Table II gives the number of States using each time period for each of its jurisdictions. Table III breaks down the data in table II by region and indicates the percent of the States in each region favoring each time period in each jurisdiction." For example, the table shows that 50 percent of the States in the South demand 6 months' residence in a county, while 25 percent of the North Central States require 3 months and no North Central State requires more than 3 months.

Aside from the multiplicity of provisions, the tables clearly indicate that, as a group, the Southern States set the most stringent provisions for all jurisdictional sizes. It is difficult to say which of the other three regions is the least severe in its demands.

Idaho, the State with the highest percentage of potential voters voting in the 1956 general election, has one of the most moderate residence requirement laws in the country-6 months State, 30 days county.15

Ibid., p. 149. In Massachusetts, "a constitutional amendment of 1859, repealed in 1863, required two years' residence in the United States, after naturalization" for all voters, a symptom of the party battles for immigrant support in that period. Penniman, Howard R. Sait's American parties and elections. 5th ed. New York, Appleton-CenturyCrofts, 1952. p. 22n.

p.

10 Key, Valdimer O. Southern politics in State and Nation. New York, Knopf, 1949. 537.

11 Penniman, op. cit., p. 33.

12 Key, op. cit. See also, Penniman, op. cit., and Ogden, Frederic D. The poll tax in the South. University, Ala., University of Alabama Press. 1958. p. 4.

13 Delaware, Illinois, North Dakota, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Washington.

14 Tables II and III are based upon tables devised by Ralph M. Goldman.

15 How many might have voted? Congressional quarterly weekly report. Sept. 2, 1960:

1533.

1 Otherwise qualified electors who have moved to a new precinct in the same county, town, or city may vote in their old precincts.

2 In election district.

3 New residents in the State may vote for President and Vice President only, after 54 days of residence. 490 days.

No elector who has changed his residence from one county, precinct, or town to another loses his right

to vote in his former county, precinct, or town until he acquires voting residence in the new one.

660 days.

7 Municipality.

"Plantation."

• Ministers and wives may vote after 6 months' residence.

10 New residents in the State may vote for President and Vice President only, after 60 days of residence. In city of 4th class.

12 40-day residence requirement when voting for President and Vice President.

18 Voter must reside in precinct in which he registers.

14 6 months if previously an elector or native of the United States.

15 Public school teachers and spouses may vote after 6 months' residence.

16 10-day precinct residence requirement when voting for President and Vice President.