The Electoral College revisited

The

Democratic deficit

of the

Electoral College has been the subject of largely academic debate for a long time now, but, more recently, the discourse seems to be moving well beyond academia, making its way into the political arena where progressives are trying to push the political envelope toward either reforming or even abolishing the institution all together.

Both,

Julia Azari

and

Seth Masket

discuss all questions related to the College in this

podcast

trying to assess how far the political debate has shifted already, and to what extent political reform on this in my view vital question is likely to happen. Any reform package can use one of two tracks: One can try to bring about structural reform by amending the US constitution which will be a prolonged and difficult undertaking, or one strives for less formal interstate arrangements which, at least in the medium-term, are likely to incur less political costs for the proponents of reform. But, as both political scientists point out, each method has its drawbacks too.

Since reforming the College may be a prerequisite for ensuring the survival of the US political system in the long term, we can all rest assured that the issue will not go away and keep us on edge for quite some time to come.