Graduating from the Electoral College

On the Monday after the second Wednesday in December of presidential election years, electors have gathered in as many as fifty-one different groups with between two and fifty-five members. Each electoral assembly, or college, operates under its own rules.
Together, they are collectively known as the Electoral College, an institution that is protected by a dizzying array of myths and misunderstandings. This book argues incisively that the Electoral College neither lives up to the Founding Fathers' expectations nor the modern arguments offered in its defense.
Drawing on a thorough analysis that includes every single presidential election from 1788 to 2020, Tomas McIntee finds that the Electoral College does not have a systematic bias in favor of small states, rural voters, or either of the two major political parties. Instead, it is chaotic; it favors large battleground states, rewards regionally divisive candidates, and is more susceptible to everything from fraud to bad weather.
It's time to graduate from the Electoral College.
Advance praise for Graduating from the Electoral College:
“McIntee gives a comprehensive critique of the Electoral College that includes a consideration of its mathematical failings … An analytically incisive account of the Electoral College’s foibles.”
- Kirkus Reviews
“In addition to taking readers on a journey of the Electoral College's role in every election through 2020, McIntee's classification of pivotal, critical, and crucial states will be quite useful to scholars, pundits, and even casual observers of the Electoral College. This is an accessible book that will be especially attractive to critics of the Electoral College.”
- Robert Alexander
Author of Representation and the Electoral College
“To say that Graduating from the Electoral College is key to understanding the American democratic process is an understatement. This is the book that should be assigned reading from high school upwards, required background reading for any educated voter who wants to enter the modern fray of controversial discussions with more than innuendo and vague notions of the College's history, intentions, and relevance to the power struggles that affect this nation.”
-D. Donovan
Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Reviews
“Once their utility passed, three-corner hats, outdoor privies, and horse-drawn carriages were dismissed. It is long past time to drop another eighteenth century relic; one that threatens our democracy: the US Electoral College. This is where, not yours, but the votes of 538 essentially anonymous people elect the President of the US! For political reasons, reform is difficult—until enough people speak out. An excellent place to learn about its history and dangers is this book by McIntee.”
-Donald G. Saari
Author of Chaotic Elections! A Mathematician Looks at Voting
Distinguished Research Professor, University of California, Irvine
“This book is a masterpiece, a real page-turner for anyone with an interest, either professional or recreational, in the bizarre system the most powerful country in the world uses to elect the most powerful person in the world. While the author precedes and follows his analysis making no mistake about his opinion of the Electoral College, his analysis remains fair and unbiased, and incredibly thorough. The founders can be forgiven for the flaws in the Electoral College, as they were working without history or context. Later generations might not be so easy on us, though, for allowing partisan politics and misguided perceptions to keep us from moving on from it.”
-Rick Klima
Co-author of The Mathematics of Voting and Elections: A Hands-On Approach