Dimensions: 6'' x 9'' 118 pages AEI Press  (Washington) Publication Date: August 2004 Paperback ISBN: 0844742023 Price: $ 15.00 Add to Cart   Examination Copies

 The preface to this book is available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

The extraordinary presidential election contest in 2000 raised new issues about the electoral process. In the third edition of After the People Vote: A Guide to the Electoral College, leading constitutional, political, and legal scholars use examples from that controversial election and other disputed elections to explain how the electoral college works.

The new edition of this popular guide provides a short history of contested elections, including a fresh essay on the 2000 election. It features all-new essays arguing for and against the electoral college, as well as appendixes that are updated and expanded to include electoral college and popular vote totals from past presidential elections. An added section concentrates on the period between Election Day in November and the casting of votes by electors in December. After the People Vote is the only book of its kind that is keyed to the specific dates between Election Day and the inauguration, which allows the reader to focus on the key procedural issues at each juncture of the election.

After the People Vote is a handbook for students, scholars, journalists, policymakers, political scientists, lawyers, and general readers interested in understanding the workings of the electoral college and other post–Election Day election processes. It explains:

how disputed presidential elections are resolved; why we have an electoral college; how electors are selected and bound; what the constitutional provisions are for selecting a president; what the statutory provisions are for selecting a president; how consistent state recount procedures are; why it is important for states to certify their election results by a date before the electors cast their votes; what the presidential succession process is; what the interactions of the Constitution, federal, and state statutes are; and what the party and parliamentary rules are.

John C. Fortier is a research fellow at AEI and executive director of the Continuity of Government Commission. Walter Berns is a resident scholar at AEI. Akhil Amar is Southmayd Professor of Law at Yale University. Vikram Amar is a professor of law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, in San Francisco. Martin Diamond, now deceased, was a professor at the University of Chicago. Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at AEI.

Acknowledgments  Preface Timeline for the elections of 2004 and 2008   Part I. How the Electoral College Works   1. How Are Electors Appointed? Who Resolves Disputed Appointments? How the States Nominate and Bind Their Electors 2. For Whom Do Electors Vote? How the Ballots Are Cast What If State Recounts Are Not Complete When the Electors Vote? Must the President and the Vice President Be from Different States? 3. How Are the Electoral Votes Counted? Who Counts What?  4. What If No One Has a Majority? The House Chooses a President The Senate Chooses a Vice President 5. What If No One Has Been Chosen by Inauguration Day? The Presidential Succession Act 6. What If a Major Party Candidate Dies or Resigns? Death or Resignation After the Election What is Not Covered Part II. The History of Disputed Elections 7. Three Disputed Elections: 1800, 1824, 1876, Norman J. Ornstein The Election of 1800 The Election of 1824 The Election of 1876 8. The 2000 Election, John C. Fortier Bush v. Gore What If the Count Had Continued? What If the Count Had Continued Beyond December 12, 2000?  What If There Had Been Competing Slates of Electors?  What If the Election Dispute Had Extended to Inauguration Day?  Conclusion Part III. Arguments For and Against the Electoral College   9. Let’s Hear It For the Electoral College, Walter Berns   10. Why Old and New Arguments for the Electoral College Are Not Compelling, Akhil Reed Amar and Vikram David Amar Original Arguments for the Electoral College Modern Arguments for the Electoral College 11. Excerpts from “The Electoral College and the American Idea of Democracy,” Martin Diamond Why the Framers Adopted the Electoral College Why the Electoral College is Democratic (Through the States) Appendixes Notes About the Authors