Formal Essay
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You will write an argumentative essay in which you will offer support for your chosen position in the Constitutional Amendment Debate. This assignment will require that you support your claims with evidence from both scholarly sources and from your own analysis of arguments. In order to write the paper and argue effectively, it will also be necessary for you to familiarize yourself with the major arguments on the opposing perspective. This paper should be typed, 6-7 pages in length, and employ proper citation format.
There are three phases to the project:
Some argue that the Electoral College system is a relic of an earlier, less democratic era and that it should be scrapped before it elects another presidential candidate who "loses" the popular vote. Perhaps the most obvious substitute for the Electoral College would be direct election using the plurality system. In a plurality system, the candidate receiving more votes than any other candidate is declared the winner, even if the candidate received less than a majority of the vote. Another possible substitute for the Electoral College would be an "instant runoff" system. Instant Runoff allows voters to rank candidates as their first choice, second choice, third, fourth and so on. If a candidate does not receive a clear majority of votes on the first count, a series of runoff counts are conducted, using each voter’s top choices indicated on the ballot. The candidate who received the fewest first place ballots is eliminated. The ballots are then retabulated, with each counting as a vote for the top-ranked candidate listed on the ballot that is still in contention. Voters who chose the now-eliminated candidate have their vote transferred to their second choice candidate—just as if they were voting in a traditional two-round runoff election. This process continues until a candidate achieves more than fifty percent of the vote. Pro: Write an essay in favor of a Constitutional amendment that would replace the electoral college with a direct instant runoff vote for the President.
Con: Write an essay in favor of maintaining the Electoral College.
Electoral System Web Resources Advisory: Consider using the "non-virtual" library (the one with actual books, journal, and magazines in it). You will find a wealth of information through various links to the web below, but you won't find all the information you might need nor will you find that information in the most efficient manner. The time it takes to walk to the "non-virtual" library might be far less than time consumed by hopping from one link to the next in the hope of finding a particular piece of information. This is a list of periodical databases available to University of Hartford students. I recommend two in particular:
If you want to use these databases off-campus, look at the information at this link.
The Electoral College (pdf format)
Electoral College-National Archives and Records Administration
SpeakOut.com Daily Briefing - Time to Reform the Electoral College?
SpeakOut.com Article - Electoral College Helps Blacks, Latinos
Center for Voting and Democracy
EC The US Electoral College Web Zine
Citizens for True Democracy Advocates for Fair Elections
San Francisco Instant Runoff Campaign
Should we replace one house of Congress with representatives chosen by lot? Montesquieu observed "voting by lot is in the nature of democracy; voting by choice is in the nature of aristocracy. The casting of lots is a way of electing that distresses no one; it leaves to each citizen a reasonable expectation of serving his country." Most public officials in our country are chosen by election; only jurors are regularly chosen by lot. Supporters of election-by-lot (or "sortition") argue that election systems corrupt politics and that legislatures chosen by lot are more truly representative. Representatives would chosen by lottery; screened for minimal educational attainment, past criminal behavior, and health and substance abuse problems; and given extensive training in legislative procedure. Pro: Write an essay in favor of a Constitutional amendment that would select one house of Congress by sortition.
Con: Write an essay in favor of maintaining our current legislative election by ballot system.
Writings in favor of sortition outnumber writings against it. Why? Because the opponents of sortition will not bother to write about the proposal until they believe there is a real possibility of it being enacted. Just as few people bothered to defend the Electoral College before the last election, so few people bother to defend balloting against sortition until it becomes a pressing issue. Advisory: Consider using the "non-virtual" library (the one with actual books, journal, and magazines in it). You will find a wealth of information through various links to the web below, but you won't find all the information you might need nor will you find that information in the most efficient manner. The time it takes to walk to the "non-virtual" library might be far less than time consumed by hopping from one link to the next in the hope of finding a particular piece of information. This is a list of periodical databases available to University of Hartford students. I recommend two in particular:
If you want to use these databases off-campus, look at the information at this link.
William Godwin, Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, Book VI Ch. X,
Sigmund Knag, "Let’s Toss for It A Surprising Curb on Political Greed," Independent Review 3, no. 2
Ernest Callenbach and Michael Phillips, "A Citizen Legislature, In Context 11 (Autumn 1985) Ernest Callenbach and Michael Phillips, A Citizen Legislature (Berkeley, California: Banyan Tree Books, 1985)
Bill Longstaff, "A Model for a Tiered Constituent Assembly," Proposed Models for a Canadian Constituent Assembly (1997)
Jen Romslo and Sascha Pohl, Citizens' Juries in Great Britain
Graham Smith and Corinne Wales, Toward Deliberative Institutions: Lesson from Citizens' Juries (pdf format)
Brian Martin, "Democracy without Elections," Social Anarchism 21 (1995-1996)
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