The U.S. Constitution in Five Minutes - Joseph L. Smith
24. Is the Electoral College Undemocratic?
The U.S. Constitution in Five Minutes - Joseph L. Smith
Sheahan Virgin [+]
Grinnell College
Sheahan Virgin is an assistant professor of political science at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. His research focuses on the extra-partisan reasons elites and members of the mass public may decide either to support or oppose electoral reforms.
Description
In this chapter, Sheahan Virgin uses a simple math game to illustrate for readers how, mechanically, the U.S. Electoral College can sometimes produce a questionably democratic result: the so-called “wrong winner,” i.e., a president-elect who wins an electoral vote majority but loses the aggregate, national popular vote.