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Why the Electoral College Is Bad for America. By George C. Edwards III. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2004. 198 pp.
Why the Electoral College Is Bad for America is a splendidly and clearly written primer on the origins, history, and complexity of the electoral college system. But George Edwards is out for bigger game-namely, the dissolution of the electoral college and its replacement with direct election. His main argument is that the electoral college is fundamentally at odds with the principles of political equality and majority rule. Edwards makes the case that the electoral college may be unique as an instrument to select a chief executive, but its continued existence cannot be justified, in large part because the mechanisms of the electoral college at various points through its operation can defy the will of the people.
In order to make his argument, Edwards tackles the debates and activities of the Founders at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, contending that the Framers backed into the electoral college by necessity because of the need to deal with certain practical realities. Moreover, the final product was not the result of...