College in the Schools |Field Day 2017
January 2017
Issue Charge: Representation in American Democracy
Typically, whichever candidates wins the most votes wins the election. American presidential
elections, however, use a unique voting system called the Electoral College. Simply put, each
U.S. state and the District of Columbia possess a set number of Electoral College votes that are
roughly proportionate to the states’ populations. With the exception of Maine and Nebraska, the
winner of each state’s popular vote wins all of that state’s Electoral College votes. The total
number of Electoral College votes is 538 and, to win the presidency, a candidate must receive a
majority of them (270).
The 2016 election marks the second time in the past 5 presidential elections in which the
candidate who received the most popular votes did not win the most Electoral College votes. As
of the writing of this prompt, 63.6 million people voted for Secretary Clinton and 61.9 million
people voted for President-elect Trump. The last candidate to fail to win the presidency after
winning the popular vote was Al Gore who, in 2000, earned roughly 500,000 more votes than
George W. Bush. Despite earning fewer votes, President-elect Trump and President Bush won
the electoral college with 290 and 271 Electoral College votes, respectively (at the time of this
writing, Michigan’s 16 electoral votes were still not declared for either candidate).
Many political commentators want to repeal or reform the Electoral College. Your task is to take
an informed position on the question of whether we should preserve the Electoral College asis or change our system for electing presidents.
What are the benefits and harms of the Electoral College? If you support changing our current
system, what alternative would you propose? When considering these issues, keep in mind both
the benefits and harms of each alternative method of electing a president in addition to the
likelihood that the alternative method could be adopted.
2017 College in the Schools Field Day: Reading Guide
The following guide includes a description of the major issues you’ll be expected to learn about.
Note that some articles are mandatory whereas sometimes you’ll be allowed to choose from a
selection of articles to read.
We have provided PDF versions and hyperlinks to all of the resources, where possible. Note that
some of the resources are online only (e.g. videos and online tools).
Section 1: The Basics
First, you’ll want to learn about the Electoral College system. How, exactly, does it work? What
was the motivation to create it? What are some of the basic advantages and disadvantages of the
Electoral College?
Read All Three and Watch the Ted-Ed Video:
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Reading 1: Kimberling, William C. 1992. “The Electoral College.” FEC.
http://www.fec.gov/pdf/eleccoll.pdf
Reading 2: Annenberg Classroom, “Our Constitution.” U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section
1, Clauses 1-3.
http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/Files/Documents/Books/Our%20Constitution/Article_II
_Our_Constitution.pdf
Reading 3: Annenberg Classroom, “Our Constitution.” U.S. Constitution, 12th Amendment.
http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/Files/Documents/Books/Our%20Constitution/Twelfth%
20Amendment_Our%20Constitution.pdf .
Greer, Christina. 2016. “Does Your Vote Count? The Electoral College Explained.” Ted-Ed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9H3gvnN468
Optional: The following Google Spreadsheet provides an updated count of the popular votes
each candidate earned in the 2016 election.
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Wasserman, David. “2016 National Vote Tracker.”
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/133Eb4qQmOxNvtesw2hdVns073R68EZx4SfCnP4I
GQf8/htmlview?sle=true#gid=19
Section 2: The Merits of the Current System
Next, you’ll need to know about some of the major advantages and possible harms of the current
system. Read all of the articles contained within at least two of the following four sub-categories.
Section 2(a): Winning the Electoral College but not the Popular Vote
As 2000 and 2016 show, a candidate can win the popular vote but not the Electoral College. The
following articles explore and demonstrate some of the logic behind this phenomenon.
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Reading 4: Collin, Katy. 2016. “The Electoral College Badly Distorts the Vote. And it’s
Going to Get Worse.” Washington Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/11/17/the-electoral-collegebadly-distorts-the-vote-and-its-going-to-get-worse/?tid=hybrid_collaborative_1_na
Optional:
• Reading 5: Kurtzleben, Danielle. 2016. “Because Of The Electoral College, The Presidency
Could Be Won With Just 23 Percent Of The Vote.” NPR News.
http://www.npr.org/2016/11/02/500112248/how-to-win-the-presidency-with-27-percent-ofthe-popular-vote
Section 2(b): Impacts on Campaigns
Many critics of the Electoral College suggest that it encourages campaigns to focus only on
competitive states, often times known as “swing states.” Candidates rarely campaign in
California or Alabama, for example, because those states almost always vote for Democratic or
Republican candidates, respectively. Florida, however, frequently “swings” between voting for
Republican and Democratic candidates and hence Florida receives a lot of attention from
presidential campaigns. The following two links demonstrate the extent to which presidential
candidates focus on “swing states.”
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Campaign Travel Tracker. http://traveltracker.nationaljournal.com/
Reading 6: Cole, Adam. 2012. “A Campaign, Morphed by Money.” NPR News.
http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2012/11/01/163632378/a-campaign-map-morphedby-money
Section 2(c): Faithless Electors
Some states’ Electors can technically vote for whomever they want. In fact, many people have
campaigned for electors to be “faithless” and to vote for Secretary Clinton even if Donald Trump
won the electors’ state. The following articles discuss the likelihood and consequences of
faithless electors.
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Reading 7: Farley, Robert. 2016. “Could Electoral College Elect Clinton?” Factcheck.
http://www.factcheck.org/2016/11/could-electoral-college-elect-clinton/
Read at least one of the following:
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Reading 8: Blake, Aaron. 2016. “How a ‘Faithless Elector’ in Georgia Could Cost Donald
Trump an Electoral College Vote.” Washington Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/08/03/how-a-faithless-elector-ingeorgia-could-cost-donald-trump-an-electoral-college-vote-explained/
Reading 9. Brunner, Jim. 2016. “Washington State Democratic Elector Won’t Support
Clinton, Another Won’t Commit.” Seattle Times.
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/hes-a-state-democratic-elector-but-robertsatiacum-says-he-wont-vote-for-clinton/
Section 2(d): Regional Equality
Many people defend the Electoral College because it ensures that presidential candidates must be
popular across multiple regions and in many states. According to these advocates, this is
consistent with the original purpose of the American Constitution because it respects and
preserves the role the states play in our federal system of power.
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Reading 10: Excerpt from Ross, Tara. 2004. “The Electoral College: Enlightened
Democracy.” Heritage Foundation.
NOTE: Just read the section titled “An 18th Century Solution in 21st Century America.”
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2004/11/the-electoral-college-enlighteneddemocracy
Reading 11: Reed Amar, Akhil. 2016. “The Troubling Reason the Electoral College Exists.
Time
http://time.com/4558510/electoral-college-history-slavery/
Section 3: Alternative Systems
Of course, it is one thing to find fault with the Electoral College and another thing to determine
that there is a superior alternative. Read about two of the following proposed alternatives to our
current method of selecting presidents to determine if, on balance, they would be preferable.
Section 3(a): National popular vote
Some critics of the Electoral College have proposed abandoning it altogether for a direct national
vote. While broadly popular, there is an ongoing debate as to whether it would, practically
speaking, be a superior system. In addition to requiring a constitutional amendment, one key
detail that troubles some commentators is that a very close election could trigger a national
recount.
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Reading 12: Longman, Martin. 2015. “The Popular Vote is a Bad Idea.” Washington
Monthly.
http://washingtonmonthly.com/2015/06/15/the-popular-vote-is-a-bad-idea/
Reading 13: Hertzberg, Hendrik. 2012. “National Popular Vote: The Recount Bugaboo.” The
New Yorker.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/hendrik-hertzberg/national-popular-vote-the-recountbugaboo
Section 3(b): National popular vote compact
The “National Popular Vote Compact” would not require a constitutional amendment. Instead,
states could sign a contract that would obligate them to award all of their Electoral College votes
towards whichever candidate won the national popular vote.
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Reading 14: Blake, Aaron. 2013. “The National Popular Vote Effort, Explained.” The
Washington Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/07/25/the-national-popular-voteeffort-explained/
Section 3(c): Congressional District and Proportional Vote System
Some critics of the Electoral College have urged states to modify the way they award electoral
votes for candidates. Maine and Nebraska already use what is known as a “Congressional
District” method and Pennsylvania has recently proposed using a “Proportional Vote System.”
The following articles discuss these methods and their likely impacts on presidential elections.
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Reading 15: Fairvote. 2016. “Maine & Nebraska”
http://www.fairvote.org/maine_nebraska
Read at least one of the following:
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Reading 16: Skelley, Geoffrey. 2013. “Pondering Pennsylvania’s Proportional Plan.” Larry
J. Sabato's Crystal Ball.
http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/pondering-pennsylvanias-proportionalplan/
Reading 17: Abramowitz, Alan. 2013. “Republican Electoral College Plan Would
Undermine Democracy.” Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball.
http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/republican-electoral-college-planwould-undermine-democracy/
Section 3(d): Optional
This tool allows you to compare the various proposed alternatives to determine if they would
shift elections more towards Republican or Democratic candidates.
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270toWin. “Gaming the Electoral College.”
http://www.270towin.com/alternative-electoral-college-allocation-methods/
Section 4: Changing the Current System
Finally, finding fault with the current system is only an academic exercise unless there is a viable
method of changing it. States are free to decide how they allocate their Electoral Votes and so
any state may adopt a variation on a Congressional District or Proportional Representation plan.
However, making broader changes like abolishing the Electoral College altogether or instituting
the National Popular Vote Compact would require something more. The following articles
discuss the process and likelihood of moving away from our current method of selecting
presidents.
First, read Article V of the Constitution which outlines the process for amending the
Constitution.
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Reading 18: Annenberg Classroom, “Our Constitution.” U.S. Constitution, Article V.
http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/Files/Documents/Books/Our%20Constitution/Article_V
_Our_Constitution.pdf
Then, read at least one of the following:
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Reading 19: Anderson, Meg. 2016. “Critics Work To Get Rid Of The Electoral College.”
NPR News.
http://www.npr.org/2016/11/17/502292749/critics-move-to-trash-the-electoral-college-butits-not-likely-to-work
Reading 20: Sherman, Amy. 2016. “The Electoral College vs. the Popular Vote: Could States
Do an End-Run Around the Current System?” PolitiFact.
http://www.politifact.com/florida/article/2016/nov/17/electoral-college-vs-popular-votecould-states-a/