ABSTRACT
Any book assessing the state of American electoral democracy would be incomplete without a discussion of one of the most controversial and unique aspects of American democracy: the Electoral College. Supporters of many of the other subjects covered in this book, including the frequency of elections, voting for numerous offi ces, and direct democracy, do so because they believe those aspects of the American electoral system promote more democracy. To its critics, however, the Electoral College is inherently undemocratic. First, there is no guarantee that the majority, or even the plurality, winner of the popular vote will become president. Second, according to the Constitution, there is not even a guarantee that the people will get to vote for president! Each state determines how it will choose its electors. They can do so through a popular vote, as all states currently do, but there is nothing that requires direct citizen input. If a state legislature decides it wants to appoint electors, as many state legislatures did immediately after the ratifi cation of the Constitution, it is free to do so (although it would certainly face massive opposition from the public). As a result, perhaps no aspect of the Constitution receives more criticism than the Electoral College. And, it should. In this chapter, I examine the arguments made in favor of the Electoral College and point out the fl aws with those claims. I then outline the various reforms to the Electoral College that scholars and practitioners have suggested and look at their strengths and weaknesses. In particular, I argue in favor of a plurality election with an instant runoff. However, since the Electoral College seems to be here for the foreseeable future, two reforms are needed to improve the current system: the elimination of both “faithless electors” and the House contingency plan to select a president if no candidate receives a majority of the electoral vote. Before laying out my argument, a brief history of how we ended up with such a unique system is in order.
