Debating the Electoral College

Guests: Jack Rakove, Lara Brown

Electoral College voters will meet to cast their ballots for the next President on Monday.  In states where Donald Trump won, some electors are being pressed to vote their conscience, since Trump lost the popular vote by a wide margin.  Only twice in the last 16 years, has a President-elect won the electoral vote but lost the majority of voters and now, once again, people are calling for the end of the Electoral College, a system originally put in place to balance the influence of urban and rural states.   Today we’ll debate the Electoral College and look at its history, what the founding fathers had in mind when they designed it, and what the alternatives are.  Marty talks with JACK RAKOVE, professor of history and American Studies at Stanford University, and LARA BROWN, associate professor and interim director of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University.