Let the People Pick the President

The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College

By: Jesse Wegman

Narrated by: Jesse Wegman

"People have been arguing against the Electoral College from the beginning. But no one, at least in recent years, has laid out the case as comprehensively and as readably as Jesse Wegman does in 'Let the People Pick the President.'" -- The New York Times Book Review

This program is read by the author

The framers of the Constitution battled over it. Lawmakers have tried to amend or abolish it more than 700 times. To this day, millions of voters, and even members of Congress, misunderstand how it works. It deepens our national divide and distorts the core democratic principles of political equality and majority rule. How can we tolerate the Electoral College when every vote does not count the same, and the candidate who gets the most votes can lose?

Twice in the last five elections, the Electoral College has overridden the popular vote, calling the integrity of the entire system into question—and creating a false picture of a country divided into bright red and blue blocks when in fact we are purple from coast to coast. Even when the popular-vote winner becomes president, tens of millions of Americans—Republicans and Democrats alike—find that their votes didn't matter. And, with statewide winner-take-all rules, only a handful of battleground states ultimately decide who will become president.

Now, as political passions reach a boiling point at the dawn of the 2020 race, the message from the American people is clear: The way we vote for the only official whose job it is to represent all Americans is neither fair nor just. Major reform is needed—now. Isn't it time to let the people pick the president?

In this thoroughly researched and engaging call to arms, Supreme Court journalist and New York Times editorial board member Jesse Wegman draws upon the history of the founding era, as well as information gleaned from campaign managers, field directors, and other officials from twenty-first-century Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns, to make a powerful case for abolishing the antiquated and antidemocratic Electoral College. In Let the People Pick the President he shows how we can at long last make every vote in the United States count—and restore belief in our democratic system.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

“Wegman combines in-depth historical analysis and insight into contemporary politics to present a cogent argument that the Electoral College violates America’s ‘core democratic principles’ and should be done away with…" —Publishers Weekly

Really informative

The beginning of the book was sometimes a little slow, but I found the book overall incredibly informative and helpful for understanding the electoral college and the arguments for and against it. I appreciated that the analysis was fact based more than opinion based. I had seen a documentary recently arguing for the electoral college, but found it mostly emotion based and not factual, and this was a refreshing change from that. I'll definitely be recommending it to my friends and family.

eye opening

Cool perspective on the electoral college and the history that surrounds it. The narrator is great as well

Outstanding Summary of the National Popular Vote

Excellent book about making our politics work better. National popular vote and rank voting is the answer.

Every American should read this book!

I was skeptical of the EC going in to this read...now I’m 100% convinced it needs to be abolished.

Amazing book!

Well-researched and non-biased book. Congrats to Jesse Wegman for writing such an interesting, factual, and intellectually stimulating book!