2001 SESSION

01-0276

03/09

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 10

ANALYSIS

This house concurrent resolution supports the election of Presidents by the electoral college and urges the defeat of any attempt to amend the Constitution to abolish the electoral college.

01-0276

03/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand One

Whereas, the President of the United States has been elected by the electoral college since the adoption of the Constitution; and

Whereas, the electoral college promotes moderation in the political process by encouraging the consideration of varying perspectives and discouraging the exclusion of minorities of all types, including geographic and philosophical minorities; and

Whereas, the electoral college preserves and recognizes the importance of states as states; and

Whereas, the electoral college promotes the separation of powers, without which a federal system of government cannot successfully function; and

Whereas, the constitutional concepts of the electoral college, the bicameral legislature, and the nonelective judiciary serve to articulate the superiority of fundamental rights over majoritarianism; and

Whereas, the abolition of the electoral college necessarily entails the abandonment of a constitutionally-enshrined and historically-tested system in favor of an uncertain alternative requiring federal control of the electoral process; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

That the preservation of the electoral college is in the bests interests of this nation and all of its citizens; and

That any attempt to amend the Constitution to abolish the electoral college should be defeated; and

That the clerk of the New Hampshire house of representatives forward copies of this resolution to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, and to the members of the New Hampshire congressional delegation.

Approved: May 17, 2001