PRESIDENTIAL LOTTERY

In August of 1968 Michener was asked to become a Presidential elector in his home state of Pennsylvania by the Democratic Chairman of his County. A loyal Democrat, he accepted. 'As the campaign wore on it became a real possibility that the election would prove inconclusive and that Wallace would be able to engineer a deal in the Electoral College whereby either Nixon or Humphrey would have been in his debt if the election were not to be sent to the House of Representatives. To prevent this, Michener and some other Democrats he knew were willing to vote Republican in the Electoral College. He relates this strategem to dramatize the utterly irrational processes of the Electoral College and the very real dangers he fears the country faces if the present system of electing the President is not abolished. He discusses the developments of the Electoral College and he analyzes the proposals set forth to change it. He is in favor of The Automatic Plan which is essentially what we have now minus the College though he would support, as a second choice, the direct popular vote. He thinks it is possible to accomplish the necessary changes before 1972 and his book is an urgent appeal to do so.