Electoral votes for hire?

I am a presidential elector pledged to George W. Bush, and I am expecting a phone call from the Gore campaign.

Ken Clark, presidential elector from Texas

If recounts and legal actions leave Gov. Bush with a slim majority in the Electoral College, the Gore campaign will be unable to restrain itself from trying to persuade presidential electors to switch their votes.

Fantasy? Consider the facts.

In my state of Texas, as in most other states, I can legally cast my electoral vote for whomever I choose. I signed a pledge, but that is nothing more than a written promise.

Although some Democrats have expressed reservations about targeting electors, others are already openly urging Bush electors to switch.

Expect Democrats to key on Gore campaign chairman William Daley’s repeated statements that capture of the popular vote by Vice President Gore makes him the most legitimate choice for president. By urging electors to follow the “will of the people,” the Gore campaign may hope to create an aura or legitimacy about their efforts.

They will also rely on the purpose behind the process itself. The American founders intended the Electoral College to be an independent body of voters, a fact that Mr. Daley will surely call to the attention of the American people during the coming weeks.

And what of the fact that Bush’s electors are loyal Republicans? They are, but inducements may be offered, or FBI files searched (remember Filegate?), and it would likely only take two or three changes to affect the overall result.

Would the vice president offer a plum job within the administration to a “faithless elector”? (Before you say no, consider Monica Lewinsky’s job at Revlon.) How would an ambassadorship to a small, out of the way country, or even an undersecretary position within the executive branch affect an elector’s vote?

Electors, after all, are not often rich and powerful people. In Texas, for example, they are selected at state party conventions, where the position of elector is some-times seen as a consolation prize for activists not fortunate enough to be chosen as delegates to their parties’ national conventions.

Politics, contrary to popular convention, rarely pays well. Two years ago, I was a long-time activist with five children and a beat up ’82 Buick Regal, just scraping by. And there will surely be a great many electors who are in similar financial straits this year. A vote for the “will of the people” may sound more convincing if it is also in one’s economic self-interest.

The vice president has earned a reputation as a man who puts winning over the rule of law. He has thus far lived up to that reputation in directing his team’s careful maneuverings in Florida. He may again. Keep a watchful eye on the Electoral College voters this year. If some switch sides, observe carefully their future fortunes. Let us see whether the process remains fair.

It is a dangerous time for our constitutional republic — one for which, as our vice president would say, there is no controlling legal authority.

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Ken Clark is a presidential elector for Bush in the state of Texas.