Electoral College Reform is Heating Up, and Posing Some Tough Choices

Abstract

Electoral College reform is beginning to get some attention, with two different emphases: a move to institute a nationwide popular vote without a constitutional amendment, and a move to forbid faithless electoral votes. There is no logical incompatibility between the two, but in political and public policy terms, there are tensions between them. This paper evaluates the relative merits and importance of the two efforts and explores the tensions in simultaneous pursuit of the two.