Reps. Bill Orton and Wayne Owens, D-Utah, disagree with their national party chairman about whether they should automatically vote for Bill Clinton if the presidential race is thrown to Congress.
Democratic National Party Chairman Ron Brown told the Washington Times last week, "Democrats have an obligation to vote for the Democratic nominee." Party spokesmen, however, later told the Deseret News he meant he merely expects Clinton would win and was not issuing orders that Democrats must vote for Clinton.Orton said, however, "I expect the Democratic National Committee to tell Democrats they have an obligation to vote for Democrats and Republicans to tell their members they have an obligation to vote for Republicans and for Ross Perot to tell us we should vote for him, too.
"But I feel we have an obligation to the people. They should decide who the new president should be. So I have made it very clear I will vote for whomever wins the popular vote in my district - even if it is a Republican or independent. I don't care what the party says."
Owens also disagreed with Brown. "I feel a better guide is to follow what the people want."
The president is normally elected by the electoral college. Each state has as many electoral votes as it has members of Congress - so Utah has five. The winner of a state's popular vote wins its electoral votes. A candidate must win a majority of all electoral votes to become president.
If no one wins a majority - which is possible this year with the expected candidacy of Ross Perot, which could split the vote three ways - the House wouldt then elect the president and the Senate would elect the vice president.
Owens is giving up his House seat to run for the Senate and says he has not decided for whom he would vote in the Senate for vice president if the election ends up there and he wins his race.
"I would tend to vote for whomever the people of the state select. The only way I might change is if the House chooses a president from the other party. I don't think it would be wise to choose a vice president from a party other than the president's," he said.
However, if the House deadlocks - which is possible - the vice president selected by the Senate would serve as president until the House could achieve a majority for some candidate.
"The chance of a deadlock is real," Orton said. "Each state only gets one vote. And if a delegation deadlocks, the state cannot vote. It takes the votes of 26 states to win - and that may be tough." He hates that system and is pushing a constitutional amendment to abolish the electoral college.
Orton said the only way he would not vote for the popular-vote winner of his district is "if the delegation deadlocks and Utah would be casting no vote. In that case, I would consider voting for whomever won statewide and not just in my district."
A deadlock could occur, for example, if Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, is re-elected and votes for President Bush; if a Democrat is elected to replace Owens and he or she votes for Clinton; and if Orton votes for Perot because his district did.
"I think this is becoming an election issue," Orton said. "People want to know how their member of Congress would vote."
Hansen also said he has not decided how he would vote.
"I'm inclined to stay with George Bush. But I usually want to follow what the people want," he said.
He adds he expects immense pressure on every House member to stay with his or her party in such an election. He adds that because of where Utah is alphabetically, it could easily end up being the state to put a candidate over the top.
"The pressure would be horrendous, especially on someone like a Bill Orton. The Democrats would probably offer him anything he wants in return for his vote. . . . The Republicans could do the same with me," Hansen said.