The Electoral College —Time For A Change?

 

Organizer:  Alan E. Johnson

Date: Jan 23, 2021

Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am

Location:  via Zoom

This presentation by independent scholar Alan Johnson will address the history of, and proposed alterations to, the Electoral College.

We will discuss the intentions of the 1787 framers of the Electoral College, the understanding of the ratifiers, the early frustration of original intent, the adoption of the 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the failures of original intent from the 12th Amendment to the present, the present operation of the Electoral College, proposed statutory mitigations of the current Electoral College regime (including the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact), and a proposed constitutional amendment for election of the president and vice president by direct popular vote (including ranked-choice or instant-runoff voting).

Alan E. Johnson, a retired lawyer, is an independent historian and philosopher. He is the author of The Electoral College: Failures of Original Intent and a Proposed Constitutional Amendment for Direct Popular Vote (2018), The First American Founder: Roger Williams and Freedom of Conscience (2015), and other writings in the fields of history, law, political science, and philosophy. He is currently preparing a philosophical trilogy with the working titles Free Will and Human Life, Reason and Human Ethics, and Reason and Human Government.