Let the People Pick the President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College

by Jesse Wegman

In fact the battle had just begun. Tilden had secured 184 electoral votes, one short of a majority. Hayes was well behind, with 165 votes. But in three southern states—South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida—the electoral vote was in dispute. Democrats had won the popular vote in all three states, but Republicans charged they had done so only through voter intimidation and ballot fraud. This was standard operating procedure in the waning days of Reconstruction. White Democrats intent on regaining control of state governments did whatever they could to control and suppress black voters. When asked how they would manage to secure a win for Tilden in a state like South Carolina, which at the time had a sizable majority of Republican voters, the former Confederate general quoted above referred to what he called the “shot-gun policy”: “That policy is to plainly tell the negroes that the Whites are again in command of the state. We Democrats do not want their votes, but they will vote against us at their peril. We must warn the leaders that ‘the tall poppies will fall first.’” The general added, “We must be prepared to shoot rather than be prevented from redeeming the State from Radical rule.”15

December 26, 2020. Page 112.