Prompt Cast
The Electoral College: A Unique American Institution
TLDR The Electoral College was created as a compromise to prevent too much influence between branches of government and reduce corruption. While it serves as a means of indirect election, it has faced controversy for allowing a president to be elected without winning the popular vote. Potential improvements include changing the size of the House of Representatives, but these options are unlikely to happen without a constitutional amendment.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The Electoral College is a uniquely American institution that selects the President of the United States through a system of electors, rather than a direct vote by the people.
02:23
The Electoral College was created as a compromise to prevent too much influence between the legislative and executive branches and to reduce corruption, and it functions as a means of indirect election, similar to parliamentary systems.
04:28
The Electoral College was not being adopted as the original framers intended, with states selecting slates of electors who all supported the same person, and the controversy lies in the fact that it allows for a president to be elected without winning the popular vote.
06:47
The Electoral College serves as a firewall between states, preventing potential election nightmares and allowing for isolated problems to be resolved without affecting the overall outcome, but there are potential improvements that could minimize the possibility of a popular vote winner losing.
09:02
The other solutions to changing the Electoral College involve changing Congress, such as giving larger states more senators or creating more states, but these options are unlikely to happen or would require a constitutional amendment.
11:14
Increasing the size of the House of Representatives would dilute the strength of the Senate in electoral college voting, and two major ideas for increasing the size of the House are the Wyoming rule and the cube root rule.
13:32
Changing the size of the House of Representatives is the easiest way to change the electoral college, and faithless electors have been addressed through state laws and recent Supreme Court decisions.
