Critical Perspectives On The Electoral College

Author : Bridey Heing
Publisher : Enslow Publishing, LLC
ISBN 13 : 197850389X
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.92/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Critical Perspectives on the Electoral College written by Bridey Heing and published by Enslow Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2019-07-15 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the ongoing debates surrounding the United States' voting process, few topics are as heatedly discussed as the electoral college. It was established as a safeguard for democracy, but today many fear the electoral college does just the opposite; twice in recent elections the president who won the election did not win the popular vote, and many are concerned that the electoral college has outlasted its relevance. This collection of essays explores the impact, significance, and history of the electoral college, providing students with a wide-ranging look at what this institution means and key ideas about its future.

Author : Alexander Keyssar
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 067497414X
Total Pages : 545 pages
Book Rating : 4.42/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College? written by Alexander Keyssar and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2020-07-31 with total page 545 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New Statesman Book of the Year “America’s greatest historian of democracy now offers an extraordinary history of the most bizarre aspect of our representative democracy—the electoral college...A brilliant contribution to a critical current debate.” —Lawrence Lessig, author of They Don’t Represent Us Every four years, millions of Americans wonder why they choose their presidents through an arcane institution that permits the loser of the popular vote to become president and narrows campaigns to swing states. Congress has tried on many occasions to alter or scuttle the Electoral College, and in this master class in American political history, a renowned Harvard professor explains its confounding persistence. After tracing the tangled origins of the Electoral College back to the Constitutional Convention, Alexander Keyssar outlines the constant stream of efforts since then to abolish or reform it. Why have they all failed? The complexity of the design and partisan one-upmanship have a lot to do with it, as do the difficulty of passing constitutional amendments and the South’s long history of restrictive voting laws. By revealing the reasons for past failures and showing how close we’ve come to abolishing the Electoral College, Keyssar offers encouragement to those hoping for change. “Conclusively demonstrates the absurdity of preserving an institution that has been so contentious throughout U.S. history and has not infrequently produced results that defied the popular will.” —Michael Kazin, The Nation “Rigorous and highly readable...shows how the electoral college has endured despite being reviled by statesmen from James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson to Edward Kennedy, Bob Dole, and Gerald Ford.” —Lawrence Douglas, Times Literary Supplement

Author : Geoffrey Evans
Publisher : SAGE
ISBN 13 : 9780761960201
Total Pages : 356 pages
Book Rating : 4.01/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Critical Elections written by Geoffrey Evans and published by SAGE. This book was released on 1999-04-28 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Did Labour's landslide victory in 1997 mark a critical watershed in British party politics? Did the radical break with 18 years of Conservative rule reflect a fundamental change in the social and ideological basis of British voting behaviour? Critical Elections brings together leading scholars of parties, elections and voting behaviour to provide the first systematic overview of long-term change in British electoral politics.

Author : Judith Best
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN 13 : 9780847682164
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.61/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Choice of the People? written by Judith Best and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 1996 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together the ideas of today's most prominent supporters, critics, and opponents of the electoral college. Along with critical documents that provide historical background and demonstrate the evolution of debates over the legitimacy of this American institution, Judith Best and Thomas E. Cronin together with the testimony of Lawrence D. Longley, analyze the electoral college from a variety of perspectives and propose a wide range of alternatives, from maintaining the status quo to imposing radical reform.

Author : Tara Ross
Publisher : Gateway Editions
ISBN 13 : 1684510139
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.39/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Why We Need the Electoral College written by Tara Ross and published by Gateway Editions. This book was released on 2019-06-18 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is the Electoral College anti-democratic? Some would say yes. After all, the presidential candidate with the most popular votes has nevertheless lost the election at least three times, including 2016. To some Americans, that’s a scandal. They believe the Electoral College is an intolerable flaw in the Constitution, a relic of a bygone era that ought to have been purged long ago. But that would be a terrible mistake, warns Tara Ross in this vigorous defense of “the indispensable Electoral College.” Far from an obstacle to enlightened democracy, the Electoral College is one of the guardrails ensuring the stability of the American Republic. In this lively and instructive primer, Tara Ross explains: Why the Founders established the Electoral College—and why they thought it vital to the Constitution Why the Electoral College was meant to be more important than the popular vote How the Electoral College prevents political crises after tight elections Why the Electoral College doesn’t favor one party over the other Why the states are the driving force behind presidential elections and how efforts to centralize the process have led to divisiveness and discontent Why the Electoral College is inappropriately labeled a “relic of slavery” Every four years, the controversy is renewed: Should we keep the Electoral College? Tara Ross shows you why the answer should be a resounding Yes!

Author : Jesse Wegman
Publisher : All Points Books
ISBN 13 : 1250221986
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Let the People Pick the President written by Jesse Wegman and published by All Points Books. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Wegman combines in-depth historical analysis and insight into contemporary politics to present a cogent argument that the Electoral College violates America’s ‘core democratic principles’ and should be done away with..." —Publishers Weekly The framers of the Constitution battled over it. Lawmakers have tried to amend or abolish it more than 700 times. To this day, millions of voters, and even members of Congress, misunderstand how it works. It deepens our national divide and distorts the core democratic principles of political equality and majority rule. How can we tolerate the Electoral College when every vote does not count the same, and the candidate who gets the most votes can lose? Twice in the last five elections, the Electoral College has overridden the popular vote, calling the integrity of the entire system into question—and creating a false picture of a country divided into bright red and blue blocks when in fact we are purple from coast to coast. Even when the popular-vote winner becomes president, tens of millions of Americans—Republicans and Democrats alike—find that their votes didn't matter. And, with statewide winner-take-all rules, only a handful of battleground states ultimately decide who will become president. Now, as political passions reach a boiling point at the dawn of the 2020 race, the message from the American people is clear: The way we vote for the only official whose job it is to represent all Americans is neither fair nor just. Major reform is needed—now. Isn't it time to let the people pick the president? In this thoroughly researched and engaging call to arms, Supreme Court journalist and New York Times editorial board member Jesse Wegman draws upon the history of the founding era, as well as information gleaned from campaign managers, field directors, and other officials from twenty-first-century Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns, to make a powerful case for abolishing the antiquated and antidemocratic Electoral College. In Let the People Pick the President he shows how we can at long last make every vote in the United States count—and restore belief in our democratic system.

Author : Arthur Jacobson
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520929330
Total Pages : 430 pages
Book Rating : 4.33/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Longest Night written by Arthur Jacobson and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2002-10-28 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American presidential election of 2000 was perhaps the most remarkable, and in many ways the most unsettling, that the country has yet experienced. The millennial election raised fundamental questions not only about American democracy, but also about the nation's constitution and about the legitimate role of American courts, state and federal, and in particular about the United States Supreme Court. The Longest Night presents a lively and informed reaction to the legal aftermath of the election by the most prominent experts on the subject. With a balance of opposing views—including those of some of the most distinguished foreign commentators writing on the subject today—the contributors present an unusual breadth of perspectives in addressing the judicial, institutional, and political questions involved in the disputed election. Their commentaries bring the confusion and frenzy of the event into clear focus and lay the groundwork for an essential public debate that is sure to continue well into the future. The Longest Night contains a thorough chronology of the events in Florida, a detailed account of the institutional structure of American presidential elections, a series of analyses both criticizing and defending the decisions in Bush v. Gore, American perspectives on the Florida struggle and America's electoral system, and a debate on maintaining or reforming the electoral college. The authors include participants in the legal and political battles surrounding the Florida election, foreigners charged with monitoring and supervising elections, and scholars from many disciplines specializing in constitutionalism, democracy, and American election law. Contributors

Author : National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 030947647X
Total Pages : 181 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Securing the Vote written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2018-09-30 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the 2016 presidential election, America's election infrastructure was targeted by actors sponsored by the Russian government. Securing the Vote: Protecting American Democracy examines the challenges arising out of the 2016 federal election, assesses current technology and standards for voting, and recommends steps that the federal government, state and local governments, election administrators, and vendors of voting technology should take to improve the security of election infrastructure. In doing so, the report provides a vision of voting that is more secure, accessible, reliable, and verifiable.

Author : Jennifer Peters
Publisher : Enslow Publishing, LLC
ISBN 13 : 1978503865
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.61/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Critical Perspectives on Gerrymandering written by Jennifer Peters and published by Enslow Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2019-07-15 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the United States becomes more politically divided, the issue of gerrymandering is at the forefront of political debate. While gerrymandering, or manipulating distinct boundaries for political advantages, has largely negative connotations, few experts agree about the best way to redraw districts. In this collection, legal experts, politicians, experts, and ordinary citizens weigh in on this controversial and timely topic. Guided reading questions are included at the end of each article to direct readers to form their own opinions based on what they have read.

Author : Volker Kaul
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030340988
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Minorities and Populism – Critical Perspectives from South Asia and Europe written by Volker Kaul and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-02-28 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume assembles renowned scholars to address, for the first time, the relationship between minorities and populism in South Asia and Europe from a critical perspective. Despite the very different and to some extent opposite historical and political trajectories, there is today a convergence on nationalist affirmation and on majoritarian politics between South Asia and Europe. In India, the Hindu majority rebels against wide-ranging minority rights anchored in the Constitution. In Europe, the refugee crisis and Islamic radicalization bring to the forefront the postcolonial legacy. Despite all rhetoric, there are obvious dangers of majoritarianism. Populist parties are divisive, partisan, disregard minority rights, engage in lynching, social division, stigmatization and exclusion, turning minorities into second-class citizens. There is a profound structural connection between minorities and the current rise of populism in India and Europe. But there remains a deep perplexity and also anxiety: Does the presence of minorities necessarily have to trigger majoritarian policies? Are there no solutions to this dilemma? Many observers considered multicultural policies and affirmative action programs in India as a possible model for Europe to adopt in order to achieve greater integration. But eventually they seem to have failed. Why so? Are multiculturalism and the recognition of differences still options today? On the other hand, most scholars in India typically reject the European model of liberal democracy and secularism as impracticable in India and locate the reason for the current malaise in the west. But is liberal democracy really so bad in dealing with pluralism? This volume, collecting a selection of the Reset DOC Venice-Padua-Delhi dialogue series, is going to answer two fundamental questions. First, what precisely is the nexus between minorities and populism in South Asia and Europe? Starting from those case studies, the authors will also draw some general theoretical inferences about the nature of populism. Secondly, given the dangers of populism for minorities, the volume will look for the most adequate and feasible solutions.