Electoral College

SCOTUS Seems Ready to Reject Independent State Legislature Idea in a Win for Democracy

by J. Michael Luttig

The retired federal jurist observed oral arguments in a case that would allow state legislatures to reject judicial review in setting the rules of elections, potentially leading to politically-motivated mayhem in federal elections. He thinks that the Court will reject the theory. 

Nobody Likes the Electoral College—What are the Alternatives?

Constitutional Scholar Akhil Reed Amar discusses how to replace the current electoral system with something more democratic and participatory. 

Alex Keyssar on the Need to Reform the Electoral Count Act

The Electoral Count Act imposed after the contested election of 1876 leaves potential loopholes for a minority faction to override the will of voters and hijack the electoral college. Is proposed bipartisan legislation enough to fix it? 

Time to Amend the Constitution

by Don Fraser

Significant changes are needed to the Constitution in order to preserve any semblance of democratic government. 

One National Republican Wants (Narrow) Action to Tighten up Electoral Count Act

Former Congressman Zach Wamp (R-TN) says that the 1887 Electoral Count Act needs to be revised to take away an opening one party could use to contest election results. 

The Electoral Count Act is Broken; History Shows it Always Has Been

by Erik B. Alexander and Rachel Shelden

Much of what we know about the Congressional resolution of the 1876 presidential election is wrong. Rather than a behind-the-scenes compromise, the election was decided in a context of severe vote suppression and partisanship.

America's First Peaceful (Just Barely!) Transfer of Power

by Akhil Reed Amar

While the selection of Thomas Jefferson as the third president in 1801 (after an electoral college deadlock) is touted as a crucial peaceful transfer of presidential power from one party to another, the transition was far more fraught with peril than most realize. 

Disregard for the Electoral Process is New and Alarming

by Donne Levy

How did the nation reach the point where one party is openly rejecting the democratic process? 

The Filibuster That Saved the Electoral College

Powerful Southern conservatives Strom Thurmond, Sam Ervin, and James Eastland led the 1970 filibuster that stopped the Senate from approving a constitutional amendment to elect the president by the popular vote. 

How to Ensure This Never Happens Again

by Beverly Gage and Emily Bazelon

A menu of democratic reform initiatives ranging from strictly defining the electoral vote process to abolishing the electoral college: reforms needed to stop the temptation to undemocratic rule and authoritarianism.

You Think This Is Chaos? The Election of 1876 Was Worse

“I don’t really imagine Ted Cruz knows that much about the election of 1876,” said Eric Foner, an emeritus history professor at Columbia University and a leading Reconstruction scholar.

Pence Under Pressure To Follow Vote Certification Procedure But Also Please Trump

Princeton University historian Julian Zelizer joins Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd to discuss the difficult position that Vice President Mike Pence is in ahead of the formal Electoral College vote certification in Congress.

Josh Hawley Dodges Question During Fox News Grilling on Election Challenge

Senator Josh Hawley's demands that Congress intervene in the electoral vote certification depends on ignoring that A: Congress formed such a commission in 1877 after three states failed to certify their vote and B: the resulting compromise forfeited the politial and civil rights of Black Americans. 

We Can’t Let Our Elections Be This Vulnerable Again

by Richard L. Hasen

2020 is a warning: America needs to remove opportunities for political pressure, discretionary action, and deception in the counting and recording of votes. 

Shut the Door on Trump by Ending the Electoral College

by Peniel E. Joseph

The electoral college has long worked hand in hand with Black disenfranchisement to distort the American political process. It's time to abolish it in favor of a system where every vote counts. 

Why Getting the Most Votes Matters

Times Editor Jesse Wegman examines the unique absence of majoritarian principle in the election of the American president and argues it goes against the most basic understanding of political fairness. 

Of the 700 Attempts to Fix or Abolish the Electoral College, this One Nearly Succeeded

by Gillian Brockell

The most serious effort to abolish the Electoral College followed George Wallace's third party bid in 1968, when both major parties realized that a spoiler candidate could throw the election to the House of Representatives and extort political concessions for electoral votes. Southern conservatives, happy with the leverage the system gave them, blocked the amendment in the Senate.

Biden will Confront Systemic Conservatism Despite a Mandate for Change

by Steven F. Lawson

If Joe Biden wants to implement progressive change, he'll be stopped not by a lack of popular support, but by the conservatism built into American institutions. 

American Democracy Was Never Supposed to Work

by Richard Kreitner

"Merely ousting Trump is not enough without addressing more fundamental weaknesses in our political system, especially an outdated Constitution that continues to serve a minority of wealthy and white citizens and to curb any movements that might threaten their wealth and power."

The Never-Ending Crisis of the Electoral College

by Bruce Bartlett

"The inane system our founders developed to choose the president is an anti-democratic remnant of the slavery era that only benefits the GOP"--a longtime political observer endorses the National Popular Vote Compact as a way to circumvent the Electoral College without a constitutional amendment.