Perot Campaign Asks Electors for Loyalty Oaths

The campaign of likely independent presidential candidate Ross Perot on Sunday confirmed that it has asked electors running on Perot tickets to sign notarized oaths pledging their loyalty to the Texas billionaire and their commitment to vote for him in the Electoral College.

The statement came only two days after a senior campaign spokeswoman had described reports of the oaths as “absurd”--a mistake that appears to highlight continued disorganization within the campaign.

Also, the distribution of the oaths--which have been strongly criticized by some Perot electors asked to sign them--underscored growing tensions between grass-roots Perot volunteers in the states and the campaign hierarchy in Dallas.

Campaign spokeswoman Elizabeth Maas on Sunday strongly defended the oaths as necessary to ensure that electors will maintain their support for Perot if he wins a plurality of votes within a state.

Voters who cast ballots for the presidency actually are selecting electors pledged to vote for the candidate when the Electoral College votes in December. But in most states, there is no legal requirement that electors vote for the candidate they are pledged to.

While the Democratic and Republican parties can recruit electors from among a stable of loyal party activists, the Perot campaign has had to find its electors among thousands of volunteers, many of them with no prior ties to Perot and “no history of support for him,” Maas said.

Other Perot aides said Sunday that the campaign is increasingly concerned about many of its volunteers--fearing that some who have signed up as electors might ultimately prove to be uncontrollable or even Republican “moles.”