000			03600cam a2200397 i 4500
001			on1130041289
003			OCoLC
005			20200901131259.0
008			200204t20202020mau b 001 0 eng
010			_a 2019059988
040			_aMH/DLC _beng _erda _cDLC _dOCLCO _dOCLCF _dYDX _dNFG
020			_a9780674660151 _qhardcover
020			_a0674660153 _qhardcover
035			_a(OCoLC)1130041289
042			_apcc
043			_an-us---
092			_a324.63 _bK44
049			_aNFGA
100	1		_aKeyssar, Alexander, _eauthor.
245	1	0	_aWhy do we still have the electoral college? / _cAlexander Keyssar.
264		1	_aCambridge, Massachusetts : _bHarvard University Press, _c2020.
264		4	_c©2020
300			_a531 pages ; _c25 cm
336			_atext _btxt _2rdacontent
337			_aunmediated _bn _2rdamedia
338			_avolume _bnc _2rdacarrier
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
505	0		_aPart I. Origins: From the Constitution to the Twelfth Amendment -- Part II. The long fight against winner-take-all: Electoral reform in the era of good feelings -- Three uneasy pieces: the persistence of winner-take-all -- Part III. A national popular vote -- "A population anomalous" and a national popular vote, 1800- -- An idea whose time has come -- Last call for the twentieth century -- Part IV. Stalemate: Resignation and innovation, 1979-.
520			_a"The author of the Pulitzer finalist The Right to Vote explains the enduring problem of an 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"-- _cProvided by publisher.
650		0	_aElectoral college _zUnited States _xHistory.
650		0	_aPresidents _zUnited States _xElection _xHistory. _9120174
650		0	_aElection law _zUnited States _xHistory. _9226007
650		0	_aVoting _zUnited States _xHistory. _9261011
651		0	_aUnited States _xPolitics and government. _9196
994			_aC0 _bNFG
999			_c312534 _d312534