[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 109 (Tuesday, September 14, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1613]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  INTRODUCTION OF THE EVERY VOTE COUNTS AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION

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                            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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