Summary: Dr. Alexander spoke with the assembled teachers and students about the Electoral College, the institution that selects the President of the United States. He argued that while this system has advantages such as legitimizing the winners in presidential elections, and promoting a two-party system, it also violates the value of counting all votes equally. Winner take all states give all of their electoral votes to the candidate who wins the popular vote in their state, regardless of whether the winner has one million more votes or one. It also gives disproportionate voting power to small states, but also due to the pressure to focus campaign efforts, means that these states rarely see a presidential candidate or campaign commercials.
Alexander also spoke of the "faithless electors," or those few who have changed their votes from the candidates they were supposed to support. This has been rare in American history, but the potential exists for widespread disruption of the process. This is particularly pertinent since interest groups have stepped up efforts in recent elections to lobby electors to change their votes. This became an issue in the contested 2000 Election, but increased in frequency in the last election.
Several audience members asked Alexander questions on his talk, and the recording of his comments, the questions, and his answers can be found here.
