The Electoral College: Time for a Change?

Fifty-three years ago, I wrote an article for the Fordham Law Review advocating for a popular vote for president. My experience serving as staff advisor to an American Bar Association (ABA) commission on Electoral College reform influenced my views. The House of Delegates authorized the commission in February 1966. A year later, after study and consideration, the ABA recommended such a reform, as did Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana, then serving as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on constitutional amendments.

This Article returns to the subject of reform by examining in Part I the elections of this century and, as a prelude, the election of 1968. Part II examines weaknesses and threats in the system that public leaders, scholars, journalists, students, and observers of government have called attention to for many years. Part III charts out a path toward reform. Part IV discusses proposed reforms.

Part V offers a few closing reflections.