Preface to revised edition In 1967 the American Bar Association adopted a series of recommendations calling for the abolition of the electoral college and its replacement by a system of direct, nationwide popular election of the President and Vice President. These recommendations were reaffirmed by the Association in 1974. The recommendations were set forth and discussed in the report, "Electing the President," which is reprinted here. The report was made after a yearlong study by a distinguished Commission on Electoral College Reform. Members came from different walks of life, professions, and parts of the United States and included governors, judges, a former senator, former congressmen, lawyers, constitutional law authorities, political scientists, and representatives of labor and management. In view of the current discussions on the subject of electoral college reform, our Committee decided to publish a revised edition of the Commission's report. The revisions consist simply of reflecting certain factual developments since 1967 (delineated by italicized Committee notes at bottom of the relevant pages); updating the existing appendices contained in the original report to include the elections of 1968, 1972 and 1976; and adding appendices J-M: President Carter's letter to Congress and three articles which have appeared in the American Bar Association Journal since issuance of the 1967 report. In the first, Professor Paul Freund of Harvard Law School gives persuasive answers to various issues raised by the proposal to abolish the electoral college. Former Association President William T. Gossett concisely states in the second article reasons for a system of direct, nationwide popular election. The workings and near workings of the electoral college in the presidential election of 1976 are analyzed in the final article by John D. Feerick. ABA Special Committee on Election Reform JOHN D. FEERICK, Chairman New York, NY CHARLES G. ARMSTRONG Los Angeles, CA JOEL FLEISHMAN Durham, NC DANIEL L. GOLDEN South River, NJ DALE W. READ, JR. Vancouver, WA STEPHEN I. SCHLOSSBERG Washington, DC EARL SNEED Oklahoma City, OK WILLIAM P. TRENKLE, JR. Foreword to 1967 edition The Commission on Electoral College Reform was formed by the American Bar Association at the midyear session of the House of Delegates in February, 1966. Edward W. Kuhn, then President of the American Bar Association, reported at the time that congressional and executive leaders had urged the Association to examine the subject of electoral reform. He stated that this was due in some measure to the results the American Bar Association had achieved in promoting the proposed Twenty-fifth Amendment on Presidential Inability and the Vice-Presidential Vacancy. In selecting the members of the Commission, the American Bar Association endeavored to have different walks of life, professions, and parts of the United States represented. Thus, governors, judges, lawyers, constitutional law authorities, political scientists, and representatives from labor and management were invited to be members of the Commission. Comprising the Commission are: Henry Bellmon, the Governor of Oklahoma; Paul Freund, Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School; E. Smythe Gambrell, Georgia attorney and former President of the American Bar Association (1955-1956); Ed Gossett, Texas attorney and former member of Congress from Texas (1939-1951); William T. Gossett, Michigan attorney, former President of the American Bar Foundation, and former General Counsel to the Ford Motor Company; William J. Jameson, United States District Court Judge for Montana and former President of the American Bar Association (1953-1954); Kenneth B. Keating, Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals, former United States Representative (1947-1959), and United States Senator from New York (1959-1965); Otto E. Kerner, the Governor of Illinois; James C. Kirby, Jr., Professor of Constitutional Law, Northwestern University Law School, and former Chief Counsel to the Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments of the Senate Judiciary Committee; James M. Nabrit, Jr., Deputy United States Representative to the |