The Pittsburgh Press (October 24, 1944)
Electoral College may be on way out
Washington (UP) –
This election could be the last in which voters elect a President through the Electoral College – if Congress and three-fourths of the states approve any one of three proposed constitutional amendments pending in Congress.
Senator Joseph F. Guffey (D-PA) and Rep. Emanuel Celler (D-NY) have introduced identical resolutions to abolish the Electoral College but to retain the present system of giving each state a number of electoral votes equal to their members in both houses of Congress.
However, each state’s electoral votes would be divided among the candidates in proportion to their percentage of the popular vote. At present, the winning candidate in a given state gets all of that state’s electoral votes.
Senator William Langer (R-ND) has introduced a resolution to abolish the entire electoral vote process and elect the President on the basis of popular vote.