Introduction of the Every Vote Counts Amendment to the Constitution

INTRODUCTION OF THE EVERY VOTE COUNTS AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION -- (Extensions of Remarks - September 14, 2004)

SPEECH OF
HON. GENE GREEN
OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2004

Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I propose an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to abolish the electoral college and to provide for the direct popular election of the President and Vice President of the United States. I would like to start with a quote from Thomas Jefferson regarding the electoral college.

I have ever considered the constitutional mode of election ultimately by the Legislature voting by States as the most dangerous blot in our Constitution, and one which some unlucky chance will some day hit and give us a pope and antipope.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that these unlucky chances are hitting us today. The stakes of American presidential elections are tremendous for all of us but our Presidential candidates focus their activities on small numbers of "swing voters" in roughly a dozen states.

This is an injustice. All Americans are created equal and all Americans vote should count the same. So today, I am reintroducing legislation I authored in 2001 with my colleague from Washington State, Mr. BAIRD.
Our legislation, the Every Vote Counts Amendment would begin a Constitutional Amendment process to create national elections that are simple, democratic and counts every American equally. The heart of the amendment is Section Three, which reads: "The persons having the greatest number of votes for President and Vice President shall be elected."

The people, not small groups of partisans, should be responsible for filling the highest office in America. The Electoral College violates the sacred democratic principle of "one man, one vote." It should be abolished and replaced by something simple and fair.

Why should the candidate who wins the most votes not win the election? Opponents of this Amendment cannot justify why a less popular candidate should win, without saying, "that's the way we have always done it."

In 1913, Congress and the states trusted the people to elect their senators when we approved the Seventeenth Amendment. Today, we should trust the people to elect the President of the United States through a direct vote.
Every vote should carry the same weight in the election, no matter where in the nation it was cast. Texas Democrats, New York Republicans, California Republicans, and South Carolina Democrats would again have a say in the election of their President.

America is one nation, and our President should not wage a handful of separate campaigns in evenly balanced states, but one campaign, in all states, for all the people.

My constituents are unjustly ignored because neither candidate ever comes to Texas except to look for money, not votes. That is an insult to all Texans, Democratic and Republican.

Americans got a shocking look at our needlessly complex national election process in 2000, when we watched outcomes of recounts of hundreds of votes in a handful of counties determine an election in which over 100 million people voted.

We began to worry whether members of the Electoral College would be faithful to their states. We began to fear an election decided by just 435 individuals in the House of Representatives, which we have seen can be manipulated by redistricting.

There is nothing more simple and fair than: "the persons having the greatest number of votes for President and Vice President shall be elected."

In America, every vote should count and they should count equally. Therefore, we should adopt the Every Vote Counts Amendment and allow the states to begin the process of ratification.
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