ɫƵ Center for Global Humanities presents “American Democracy and the Electoral College”
Since the 2016 presidential election -- in which Hilary Clinton received nearly 3 million more votes than winning candidate Donald Trump -- many have called for the abolishment of the Electoral College. During the same time, others have lauded the institution for working as intended. And debate over the body continues as the 2020 election looms.
The story of how the Electoral College came to be and of how it has evolved through the years will be the topic of an upcoming lecture at the ɫƵCenter for Global Humanities when scholar Robert Alexander presents “American Democracy and the Electoral College.” The lecture will take place Monday, November 25 at 6:00 p.m. at Innovation Hall on the ɫƵ Portland Campus.
A professor of political science at Ohio Northern University, Alexander has published two books examining the role of interest groups in the American political system and two books examining the Electoral College. His most recent book, Representation and the Electoral College, examines how the Electoral College performs relative to norms of representation. He is a frequent media contributor, having appeared on C-SPAN, MSNBC, NPR, and CTV-Canada.
In this lecture, Alexander will discuss how the Electoral College has changed since its inception and what these changes have meant to American elections. He will devote particular attention to examining a commonly overlooked feature of the Electoral College— the mysterious presidential electors who ultimately choose the U.S. president.
This will be the seventh lecture of the 2019-2020 season at the Center for Global Humanities, where events are always free, open to the public, and streamed live online. For more information, please visit: /calendar/2019/american-democracy-and-electoral-college
About the Center for Global Humanities
The offers lectures by leading scholars to help us better understand the challenges besetting our civilization and outline new solutions for nations and peoples to live together without prejudice. Global in perspective, the Center’s lectures are streamed live on the Internet, allowing our speakers to answer questions from any country. Because the Center believes in the vital necessity of a humanities culture to civic and democratic life, it works closely with the local community to encourage reading, discussion, and debate. The Center was founded in 2009 by ɫƵ scholar Anouar Majid, Ph.D., who serves as its director.