Electoral College to Make It Official for Clinton Today

Remember the hubbub around Nov. 5 that supposedly gave President Clinton four more years in the White House? Forget it.

The 1996 presidential election is still officially undetermined until the 538 members of the Electoral College cast their ballots today, all part of the oft-maligned system designed by the nation’s founders to protect citizens from themselves.

Keeping with tradition and the Constitution, electors will cast ballots in state capitals around the country today. Vice President Al Gore, as president of the Senate, will announce the results during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 9.

“It’s ceremonial and somewhat anticlimactic,” said New York elector Deborah Glick, a state assemblywoman from Manhattan. “The general public believes the president was already elected.”

Although Clinton won a majority of the popular vote, and is anticipating a 379-159 Electoral College tally over Republican Bob Dole, the college has elected three presidents who had fewer popular votes than their rivals: Grover Cleveland in 1888, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876 and Andrew Jackson in 1824.

Each state gets the same number of electors as it has lawmakers in the House and Senate. The District of Columbia gets three votes.

New York’s elector meeting has traditionally been one of the more lavish state events--lunches at a French restaurant and pewter plates as souvenirs. Last year, the meeting of 33 state delegates cost $10,000--though this year’s pomp and circumstance has been toned down by the Republican-run New York Legislature.

James Madison and the founding fathers set up the Electoral College, the last indirect voting in the country, because they feared the public could be too easily swayed by passions and rumors.

Though this year’s popular election gives Clinton enough of a lead to assure his reelection with the Electoral College, a change in the distribution of about 600,000 votes could have elected Dole, 273-265.