Electoral votes may be factor Presidential race may not be decided by popular vote By LYNDA ROBINSON Daily Collegian Staff Writer Americans go to the polls today to elect a president but for the first time since 1888, the election may be decided by the electoral college rather than by popular vote. Although most polls show President Carter with a slight lead in the popular vote, Republican candidate Ronald Reagan has a sharp lead in the electoral vote. . Associate professor of political science Bruce Murphy predicted yesterday that the 1980 election will end in a Reagan victory, but said Reagan will not necessarily win the popular vote. “The popular vote will be extremely close with a good possibility that Carter will win the popular vote, but because of the set up of the electoral college, I strongly believe that Reagan will handi ly win the electoral vote,” Murphy said. The last time a president won an elec tion without winning the popular vote was in 1888 when Republican candidate Benjamin Harrison defeated Democratic incumbent Grover Cleveland. Murphy said Reagan’s electoral lead is a result of his strong base of support in the western half of the country and his challenge to traditional bases of Democratic support in the South and Northeast. “It puts Carter in the position of hav ing to pick up all or most of the undecid ed states,” Murphy said. “Reagan has always been able to take the western states for granted. This has given him •*more flexibility.” Robert O’Connor, associate professor of political science, said the popular vote and the electoral vote do not necessarily reflect one another. “A very close popular vote can mean a big victory in the electoral college,” University divided on By IRIS NAAR Daily Collegian Staff Writer * As the first anniversary of the invasion of the U.S. Embassy in Iran is commemorated today, the Univer-' sity community is still divided on the issue. ' Over the past year, several major'developments oc curred in Iran. The death of the shah, the failed hostage rescue attempt and the continuing war bet ween Iraq and Iran are just some of the Iranian events j|hat have dominated headlines. The Iranian Parliament still is considering the release of the hostages, but University students, of ficials and faculty said they feel the same way now as they did a year ago Jesse Dillon <4th-liberal arts) said he felt powerless when the takeover first occurred, and that he feels basically the same way today. “It’s been a year but nothing has really changed,” he said. “All we can do is stand by and idly watch. It’s got to be a very helpless feeling. “Basically I feel President Carter has handled the situation relatively well, considering the options he had,” Dillon said. ■i, Vernon Aspaturian, director of the Soviet and Slavic Area Studies Center and Evan Pugh professor of political science, said he was outraged when the em bassy takeover occurred a year ago. Aspaturian said he thought it was a tragedy that a revolutionary regime could violate the norm and go against a powerful country such as the United States. .. He said his outlook on the situation has remained largely unchanged. He said he thinks the Carter ad ministration is deficient and incompetent, and should Brother of a hostage to speak By DAVID MEDZERIAN Daily Collegian Staff Writer Rev. Richard H. Schaefer will speak at a Hostage Anniversary Ceremony at 4:15 this afternoon on Old Main lawn. His brother, Col. Thomas Schaefer, is one of 53 Americans being held captive in Iran. Rev. Schaefer will deliver remarks at the ceremony, qpmmemoratirig the one-year anniversary of the takeover of the American Embassy in Iran. University President John W. Oswald, the Chapel Choir and the Photo by Bill Walter State College Municipal Council member Carl Fairbanks speaks at last night's council meeting at which the group completion of the State College bypass using a two-lane highway. bindery w 202 PATTEE O’Connor said, O’Connor, a Carter delegate at the 1980 Democratic Convention, predicts that Reagan will win the popular vote by a small percentage and will also win the electoral vote. Murphy said the possibility of a discrepancy between the popular vote and the electoral college raises the ques tion of whether the electoral college should be abolished. “1 don’t think the electoral college as it is set up now serves the function it was intended,” Mruphy said. ‘‘lt was originally intended to insulate the presidency from the popular vote.” Political science professor James Eisenstein does not think the electoral college will be abolished in the future or should be. “I would be opposed to changing the electoral college because you don’t know what the ramifications will be,” he said. Eisenstein also predicts that Reagan will win the electoral vote even if Carter wins the popular election. The electoral college has been in ex istence since the Constitution was adopted in 1787. Each state is assigned electoral votes equal to the combined total of congressmen and senators each state sends to Congress, and the District of Columbia receives three electoral votes. Because Pennsylvania sends 25 con gressmen and two senators to Washington, the state has a total of 27 electoral votes. The presidential candidate who wins the popular vote in Pennsylvania receives all 27 electoral votes regardless of how close the popular vote may be. Murphy said although the Democratic candidates have benefited from the elec toral system in the past, in this election the system clearly favors Reagan. 4 3 CQPI E3 have done something about the hostage situation. Frank Deffer (graduate-political science) said he was surprised when the takeover occurred last year, but he didn’t think the situation could last a year. “Initially I didn’t think it would amount to a whole lot,” he said." “I don’t feel humiliated,” Deffer said. “I think we’ve done as much as we can, short of war, to get them back alive. I think it’s been a good idea to be patient.” Jan Smith (4th-special education and elementary education) said she does not think the release of the hostages has anything to do with the presidential election. “I suppose Carter could have bribed them, but I think he has nothing to do with it whatsoever,” she said. The hostage situation is an old topic of discussion among Americans, she said “Its kind of like they take it for granted,” Smith said Iranian students at the University differed from American students on their perceptions of the hostage situation, and the Iranians voiced their opinions on the motives of the Iranian government. A University student and member of the Iranian Moslem Students Association, who asked not to be identified, said at first he didn’t know what the ra tionale behind the takeover was. He said he studied the situation, though, and thought what the Iranians did was the only choice and alternative. “It was the general will of the Iranians to do so,” he said. The Iranians wanted to show the world their grievances towards the United States, he said. Penn State Singers will also take part in the ceremony, A 150-member unit of the Reserve Officer Training Corps will conduct a retreat ceremony, and afterward a U.S. flag will be presented to Rev. Schaefer. Rev. Quentin L. Schaut, Rev. Carl H. Derk and Rabbi Jeffrey Eisenstat will also speak. The Old Main chimes will be rung for 15 minutes at the conclusion of the ceremony. The bells have been rung at noon for 15 minutes each day since Dec. 20 as a reminder of the hostages. daily Old Faithfu, W. Yerrick of Maintenance and Operations tackles a wild water fountain with loose pipes in the basement of-Carnegie Building yesterday. “(It) seemed like Iranian Collegian Vol. 81.N0.72 12 pages • University Park, Pa. 16802 the ... \ >■ u si .-t"- hostage crisis The student said he feels the same way towards the situation today. He said the Iranian government has evidence that high clergymen had been assassinated before the em bassy takeover. Through confessions, the Iranian government learned that orders for the killings came from the United States embassy in Iran, he said. The student said the embassy was involved in more than diplomatic affairs. Civilians do not have the right to be involved in spying, he said. “The United States foreign policy has proved since World War II that it is trying to interfere with any other country in the Third World,” he said. He said the United States’ affairs are none of Iran’s business, and that the Iranians do not want to show preference for a specific presidential candidate. “I don’t think the hostages should be released before Nov. 4,” he said. The American media’s mention of the possible release of the hostages benefits President Carter, but nothing is heard from the Iranian side, he said. Another student from the Iranian students associa tion, who also asked not to be identified, said he has not changed his mind about the situation. “It was the best way the Iranian students could show the American public what is happening in Iran. “Who gave the Americans the right to have an in terest in the Persian Gulf?” he said. Another Iranian student said he thinks the takeover is a lesson for one of the world superpowers. By taking the hostages, he. said, the Iranians wanted to demonstrate independence and rights. “Americans can be a superpower as far as their ter ritory,” he said, but not in other territories. “The United States is playing a game with the American people,” he said. “It might be more of a lie than political.” Another Iranian student said he thinks the hostage situation is in the hands of the Americans. “If the Americans were ready to accept the condi tions the hostages wouldn’t stay for five days,” he said. “We ask only for what is right. “The Iranians will show the superpower they will be independent from the east or west,” he said. The student said the American government does not care about the hostages, but cares about politics. Municipal Council recommends completion of two-lane bypass By LORRAINE ORLANDI Daily Collegian Staff Writer Completion of the State College bypass using a. two-lane highway was recom mended by the State College Municipal Council to the state department of transportation last night. The council delayed action on a pro posed resolution which would open more council meetings to the public and action on a proposed ordinance which would ban the sale of drug paraphernalia to minors. After a two-hour discussion concern ing work to improve turning at Park Avenue intersections with North Allen and North Atherton streets, which the council recommended not be done, the council voted to complete the bypass with a two-lane highway and a diamond interchange at the Benner Pike. The council decided to delay a recom mendation on the extension of Park Avenue from University Drive to the bypass until the council receives a report on the plan from PennDOT. Council member Ronald F. Abler the pipe shut down, s<> my partner told me to go bark and tap the pipe, so I did. Yerrick said. "And this is uliat I found when I came hack." Polls say Carter-Reagan race too close to call From our wire services :. t ' As the 1980 presidential campaign moves to a close, national polls say the race between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan is too close to call. Reagan’s big lead over Carter from last summer is gone, as the hard fought battle has tightened over the past three months, following the pat tern of presidential contests in years gone by. As more and more Americans focus on the decision of which lever to pull today, the polls also say Carter’s hopes may be damaged because many of those who support him may not vote. The original watershed mark for the final round of polls was the na tionally televised debate between Reagan and Carter last Tuesday. But late-breaking developments regar ding the Americans held hostage in Iran could make recent poll results quickly obsolete. The latest ABC News-Louis Harris poll put Reagan at 45 percent and Carter at 40 percent. Independent John Anderson drew 10 percent, 1 percent named others and 4 percent were unsure. But a national poll taken by the Gallup Organization for Newsweek magazine said the race was essential ly even: Reagan 44; Carter 43; and Anderson 7. This survey was con ducted Oct. 29-30 and is based on registered voters weighted for turnout. A poll conducted by the Washington Post Oct. 26-27 put Carter at 42; Reagan at 39; and Anderson at 7 voted against any completion of the bypass, although once the initial deci sion to complete the bypass was made, he voted with the rest of the council in the recommendation that the completion be made with two lanes. The uncompleted two-mile section of the 10-mile bypass is in College Township and runs from Puddintown Road to the Centre Hills Country Club. David Zazworski, assistant district engineer for PennDOT, told the council that two lanes would “function,” and could be expanded to four lanes in the future. PennDOT is receiving recommenda tions from various local government agencies and will hear testimony at a public hearing on Nov. 19 before making its recommendation to the federal highway administration to attain federal funds for the project. , Concerning the proposed open meetings resolution, the council delayed action after a discussion of possible amendments to the resolution. Council member Joseph Wakeley, Jr., Published by Students ot The Pennsylvania State University n< dy&s '••■'" among 1,000 registered voters. . The margin for the ABC-Harris poll is 3 percentage points and 4 percen tage points for the Newsweek and Post surveys. While the polls seem to have dif ferent results, in fact, the differences are all smaller than the error margins to which all polls are sub ject. This means that the polls cannot be said to put either man in the solid position as the frontrunner. Whichever candidate prevails in the contest, the winner faces the pro spect of the smallest mandate since the advent of universal suffrage. Curtis Gans, director of the Com mittee for the Study of the American Electorate, reports that the turnout could fall below 50 percent for the first time since 1924. And the declining number of voters will be shared by three major can didates rather than the usual two. Of course, every election is decided by who actually goes to vote. But the polls this year demonstrate that the issue of turnout is even more critical than ever. For example, among registered voters, the Newsweek poll put the race at Carter 44 percent and Reagan 41 percent. But when the results were weighted to reflect possi ble turnout, the results were Reagan 44 and Carter 43. Whatever the exact figures, the huge margins Reagan enjoyed over Carter in the summer have long since faded in the heat of election cam paigning, just as Carter’s large margins over then-President Gerald Ford evaporated in 1976. who proposed the resolution, also pro posd some of the amendments and agreed with others proposed by Council President Mary Ann Haas. In other business, the council: • Overruled Mayor Arnold Addison’s veto of the home occupation ordinance adopted in October. The ordinance allows certain home occupations in homes in residential areas with restric tions regarding noise, changes in the ap pearance of the home and number of employees. Considerable cloudiness this morning with a shower or two possible. Then some clearing is likely later this after noon with a high of 58. Turning cooler with partly cloudy skies tonight and a low of 34. Morning sunshine tomorrow will be followed by afternoon cloudiness. It will be breezy and chilly with a high of 49. Partly sunny and cooler on Thursday with a high of 48. i Hit • $ ®)jt t//- • /■. j a .A* •«?.* yr:. V, 'ti'v Vf.'.'*. ■ ■'■’■xiiKf'*?-.-- '■ *\ * ** .. • . I. - ; •>*;. '• A mixed bag •iff I'i'fw-" V •• t ly Slel Varias
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers