Why We Need the Electoral College, with Tara Ross

About this Episode

My guest is Tara Ross. She is the author of "Why We Need the Electoral College." 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, Ross argues, 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”