After the People Vote

John C. Fortier is the director of governmental studies at the Biparti­san Policy Center, where he directed the Commission on Political Reform. He was previously a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he also served as executive director of the continuity of government commission, principal contributor to the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project, and participant in AEI’s Election Watch. He was the director of the Center for the Study of American Democracy at Kenyon College and taught at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Delaware, Harvard University, and Boston College. Fortier served as an adviser to the President’s Commission on Election Administration and a member of the American Law Institute’s Project on Election Administra­tion. He is the editor of the third edition of After the People Vote: A Guide to the Electoral College (AEI Press, 2004) and author of Absentee and Early Voting: Trends, Promises, and Perils (AEI Press, 2006), as well as other books and scholarly and popular articles. He is a frequent radio and television commentator on Congress, the presidency, and elections.

• ContentsIntroduction Timeline for the Presidential Elections of 2020, 2024, and 2028 Part I. How the Electoral College Works 1. How Are Electors Appointed?2. For Whom Do Electors Vote? 3. How Are the Electoral Votes Counted?4. What If No One Has a Majority?5. What If No One Has Been Chosen by Inauguration Day?6. What If a Major-Party Candidate Dies or Resigns?7. Changing the Electoral CollegePart II. The History of Disputed Elections8. Three Disputed Elections: 1800, 1824, 1876Norman J. Ornstein 9. The 2000 ElectionJohn C. FortierPart III. Arguments for and Against the Electoral College 10. Let’s Hear It for the Electoral CollegeWalter Berns 11. Why Old and New Arguments for the Electoral College Are Not CompellingAkhil Reed Amar and Vikram David Amar 12. Excerpts from “The Electoral College and the American Idea of Democracy” Martin Diamond 13. Public Opinion on the Electoral CollegeKarlyn Bowman About the AuthorsNotes AppendixesA. Provisions in the Constitution for Presidential Selection B. Statutory Provisions for Presidential Selection C. Nomination and Binding of Presidential Electors D. 1825 PrecedentsE. Party RulesF. Allocation of Electoral Votes Among the States for 2004 and 2008G. Faithless Electors H. Electoral College and Popular Vote Outcomes of All Elections