Title Why do we still have the electoral college? / Alexander Keyssar

Published Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2020 ©2020

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Description 1 online resource (531 pages) : illustration Contents Part I. Origins. From the Constitution to the Twelfth Amendment -- Part II. The long struggle to abolish winner-take-all. Electoral reform in the era of good feelings -- Three uneasy pieces, 1870-1960 -- Part III. A national popular vote. "A population anomalous" and a national popular vote, 1800-1960 -- An idea whose time has come -- Last call for the twentieth century -- Part IV. Partisan stalemate and electoral misfires. Pessimism and innovation, 1980-2020 -- Appendix A. Public opinion polls -- Appendix B. Constitutional provisions for Presidential elections -- Appendix C. The evolution of the term Electoral College Summary "The author of the Pulitzer finalist The Right to Vote explains the enduring problem of a controversial institution: the Electoral College. Every four years, millions of Americans wonder why they choose their presidents through the Electoral College, an arcane institution that permits the loser of the popular vote to become president and narrows campaigns to swing states. Most Americans would prefer a national popular vote, and Congress has attempted on many occasions to alter or scuttle the Electoral College. Several of these efforts-one as recently as 1970-came very close to winning approval. Yet this controversial system remains. Alexander Keyssar explains its persistence. After tracing the Electoral College's tangled origins at the Constitutional Convention, he explores the efforts from 1800 to 2019 to abolish or significantly reform it, showing why each has thus far failed. Reasons include the tendency of political parties to elevate partisan advantage above democratic values, the difficulty of passing constitutional amendments, and, especially, the impulse to preserve white supremacy in the South, which led to the region's prolonged backing of the Electoral College. The most common explanation-that small states have blocked reform for fear of losing influence-has only occasionally been true. Keyssar examines why reform of the Electoral College has received so little attention from Congress for the last forty years, as well as alternatives to congressional action such as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and state efforts to eliminate winner-take-all. In analyzing the reasons for past failures while showing how close the nation has come to abolishing the institution, Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College? offers encouragement to those hoping to produce change in the twenty-first century"-- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on May 28, 2020) Subject Electoral college -- United States -- History Presidents -- United States -- Election -- History Election law -- United States -- History Voting -- United States -- History POLITICAL SCIENCE -- American Government -- National. POLITICAL SCIENCE / American Government / National Election law Electoral college Politics and government Presidents -- Election Voting SUBJECT United States -- Politics and government. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140410 Subject United States Genre/Form History Form Electronic book LC no. 2019059988 ISBN 9780674974104 0674974107 9780674974142 067497414X

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