Counting the vote: an interactive study of electoral college reform

Abstract

With each presidential election comes talk of a fundamental and significant change to our democracy. Every four years brings about discussion between political pundits and casual conversation between office coworkers. All this talk is about reforming, or in some cases dismantling, the Electoral College. Over the past several decades, numerous proposals to reform the Electoral College have been advanced. Adopting any one of these proposals would certainly have far-reaching effects on our future, but what about our past? What would have happened in 1960, for instance, if instead of the winner-take-all method of assigning electoral votes, a district method were in place? Would Kennedy still have won? Or how about in 2000, if a proportional method were used, could the mess in Florida have been prevented? This thesis seeks to answer those questions. Divided into three main sections, this thesis explains what the Electoral College is and how it works, details several proposals to reform the system, and allows users to explore how a reform proposal could have changed the outcome of a past presidential election.