Electoral College

• 
• 11/10/19
  

  The Electoral College: How the Founders Cheated You of Your Vote

  by Harlow Giles Unger

  Weeks of debate by America’s Founders failed to set any rules at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia—a failure that led to “cheating” at the Electoral College ever since.

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  9/8/19
  

  The Electoral College was Terrible from the Start

  by Garrett Epps

  Epps doubts that Alexander Hamilton could foresee the consequences of an electoral college.

• 
• 4/21/19
  

  Slavery and the Electoral College: One Last Response to Sean Wilentz

  by Alan Singer

  As historians and public figures, we have an obligation to defend democratic institutions and expose vestigial anti-democratic elements like the Electoral College that threaten democracy, which includes a careful examination of their origin and history. 

• 
• 4/14/19
  

  The Electoral College and the Myth of a Proslavery Ploy

  by Sean Wilentz

  A Reply to Akhil Reed Amar.

• 
• SOURCE: Bloomberg
  4/7/19
  

  People Used to Hate the Electoral College for Very Different Reasons

  by Justin Fox

  A half-century ago, the House voted to replace the Electoral College with a direct vote and the Senate came close. The arguments made then are enlightening.

• 
• 4/7/19
  

  James Madison Responds to Sean Wilentz

  by Alan Singer

  The Electoral College may not have been expressly designed only to protect African slavery, but based on Madison’s notes, it was the mode most preferred by pro-slavery forces.

• 
• SOURCE: NY Times
  4/4/19
  

  The Electoral College Was Not a Pro-Slavery Ploy

  by Sean Wilentz

  There is a lot wrong with how we choose the president. But the framers did not put it into the Constitution to protect the South.

• 
• SOURCE: CNN
  3/20/19
  

  Electoral College is a hot topic again: Calling James Madison

  The Electoral College has been "targeted for reform or abolition some 700 times" over the course of our republic-- more than any other part of the Constitution.

• 
• 7-9-17
  

  America in Crisis: Dangerous Flaws in the Structure of Our Government Could Lead to Our Undoing

  by Richard Striner

  If in 2020 the winner of the popular vote for president loses in the Electoral College, the rage of the decent American majority will surge as it has never surged before.

• 
• 5-21-17
  

  The French Election Shows the Risk of Abolishing the Electoral College

  by Robert Hardaway

  Americans have been spoiled over the past two plus centuries with the stability of our republican form of form of government. Let’s not risk it.

• 
• 3-12-17
  

  The Disturbing Factor that Shapes Our Attitudes About the Electoral College, Primaries and Direct Democracy

  by Geoffrey Cowan

  What we think often depends on our self interest, not on a broader view of the best process.

• 
• 2-16-17
  

  So You Think Trump’s Victory Was an Outlier Because the Election Was so Close?

  by Ronald L. Feinman

  Actually, very slim vote margins in numerous presidential elections have transformed American history.

• 
• SOURCE: Political Wire
  1-25-17
  

  GOP state lawmakers move to abandon winner-take-all Electoral College vote

  The change is proposed in three states won by Hillary Clinton.

• 
• 2-12-17
  

  Lincoln Viewed the Civil War as a Struggle for Majority Rule. Today a Minority Governs.

  by Jeremy Tewell

  Is this democracy?

• 
• SOURCE: OUPblog
  1-9-17
  

  Three myths about the Electoral College

  by Edward A. Zelinsky

  Myth #1:  The Electoral College naturally favors the GOP.

• 
• SOURCE: Library of Law and Liberty
  1-3-17
  

  No! The Electoral College Was Not about Slavery!

  by Gary L. Gregg II

  The opponents of the Electoral College, in attempting to undermine support for the institution, have painted it with an unfair half-truth that distorts the historical record as well as the constitutional principles undergirding the system itself.

• 
• SOURCE: US News and World Report
  12-27-16
  

  Not Your Founding Fathers' Electoral College

  by Robert Schlesinger

  Stop saying this is how the system was designed to work.

• 
• SOURCE: CBS News
  12-24-16
  

  More states consider circumventing the Electoral College

  In states including Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Mexico, legislators have said they plan to introduce legislation that would require their state’s Electoral College voters cast ballots for the presidential candidate who earns the most votes nationwide, regardless of the statewide results.

• 
• SOURCE: NYT
  12-19-16
  

  Why Trump Had an Edge in the Electoral College

  It wasn’t about small-state bias or regionalism. It was about the nature of the battleground states, and there was one other key element: luck.

• 
• SOURCE: The Washington Post
  12-19-16
  

  How Germany’s electoral college was set up to prevent another Hitler

  German post-war politicians were horrified by the possibility of another fascist populist gaining widespread support among the public. So they decided to make the election of the German president a decision of a Federal Assembly, which meets only for that purpose.