ABSTRACT
The Electoral College, that jury-rigged compromise that allowed the framers to flee the sweltering Philadelphia summer heat in 1787, has survived admirably for 220 years. And the neither public, which neither understands nor supports the Electoral College, might well back a move to a popular vote system. Of the twenty-seven amendments to the US Constitution, eleven have affected national electoral politics, and all of these were adopted after the first ten amendments, incorporating the Bill of Rights, were ratified. Focusing substantial attention on the undemocratic nature of the Electoral College and the apparently difficult nature of changing it may obscure the potential for achieving more modest, but still meaningful institutional reform. The national popular vote plan, while clever and responsive to public opposition to the Electoral College, raises serious legitimacy issues and understates potential problems in implementation. Legitimacy issues surrounding national popular vote extend beyond addressing an extremely narrow and contested outcome.
