Let the People Pick the President

The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College

Jesse Wegman

• Publisher: All Points Books
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781250221988
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The veteran journalist presents "an illuminating history and analysis" of the American electoral system—and a bold call for change ( Kirkus).
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 the candidate who gets the most votes can lose?
The Electoral College creates a false picture of a country divided into red and blue blocks when in fact we are purple from coast to coast. In every election, tens of millions of Americans—Republicans and Democrats alike—find that their votes don't matter, and that only a handful of battleground states ultimately decide who will become president.
In this authoritative and persuasive 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 deep insight into contemporary 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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Notice
• Dedication
• Epigraphs
• Introduction: A More Perfect Union: The Last Step Toward American Democracy
• 1. Did the Founders Fear Democracy?: The Radical Democratic Vision of James Wilson
• 2. The Fraught Origins of the Electoral College: A Last-Minute “Frankenstein Compromise”
• 3. Did the Electoral College Ever Really Work?: Not Like the Framers Expected It To
• 4. The Second Founding: Black People and Women Get the Vote
• 5. One Person, One Vote: Four Words That Nearly Brought Down the Electoral College
• 6. Setting the Record Straight, Part One: Common Electoral College Myths: What Does “Mob Rule” Mean, Anyway?
• 7. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact: You Don’t Need a Constitutional Amendment
• 8. Setting the Record Straight, Part Two: Common Popular Vote Myths: Big Cities, Two Parties, and a Democratic Plot
• 9. Imagining a National Popular Vote: The Campaign Experts Speak
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index
• About the Author
• Newsletter Sign-up
• Contents
• Copyright