Organizer: Princeton Gerrymandering Project

In collaboration with Labyrinth Books, the Princeton Gerrymandering Project will host a Fixing Bugs in Democracy talk on the Electoral College. The Fixing Bugs in Democracy series features experts discussing structural problems in American politics, and how we can fix them. Professor and Director of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project Sam Wang will introduce author Jesse Wegman and professor Julian Zelizer.

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 every vote does not count the same, and the candidate who gets the most votes can lose? Isn't it time to let the people pick the president?

In this thoroughly researched and engaging 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 information gleaned from campaign managers, field directors, and other officials from twenty-first-century Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns, to make a powerful case for abolishing the antiquated and antidemocratic Electoral College. He shows how we can at long last make every vote in the United States count—and restore belief in our democratic system. He is joined for a conversation about his new book by political historian Julian Zelizer.

Location: Webinar