Harvard Kennedy School

DEMOCRACY

INSIGHTS

An Electoral College ballot box is carried through Statuary Hall to the Senate on Wednesday, January 6, 2021. (Amanda Voisard for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The electoral college: What’s to be done?

Tens of millions of Americans will head to the polls in November in what may well be the most consequential presidential election in memory. Yet the candidates’ campaigns will focus most intently on just a handful of swing states, where a few thousand voters are again likely going to be the key to vaulting their candidates over the critical 270 Electoral College vote threshold. In April, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation held a conference that brought together scholars and practitioners passionate about democracy reform to help jumpstart a serious conversation about strategies for adopting a new method for formally selecting presidents. Professor Alex Keyssar, an expert in the complicated history of the peculiar American system of presidential election, offered a provocative summation: “We should have a presidential election like we elect members as presidents of the student council—you vote and the person who wins the most votes wins. Very simple.”

WhAT WE'RE READING

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When they break the law, peaceful protesters who engage in civil disobedience are trying to engage the rest of us in a conversation about justice.”

— Professor Archon Fung in Campus Protests and Police Force: An Ethical Framework

The year of the global election

With over half the world’s population heading to the polls this year, 2024 has been dubbed the “year of the global election.” While much has been written about the U.S. presidential campaign, this year represents a critical milestone in the growth, or retrenchment, of democracies in countries as varied as Indonesia, Taiwan, and El Salvador. Last semester, Kennedy School scholars have delved into many of these important, and often underreported electoral contests.

Read the latest: India’s voters “sprung a surprise,” said HKS Assistant Professor of Public Policy Gautam Nair, discussing the country's recent national elections. "The elections are a watershed moment."

What We're watching

How do you get self-interested political parties to draw fairer political maps?

A man looks at a district map of Georgia

Can higher education renew our democracy?

In a recent paper, Harvard Kennedy School Professor of Public Policy Danielle Allen explores how higher education can promote the health of our democracy. “Colleges and universities have a critical role to play in enabling students to have vigorous and contentious debates about a whole range of issues while engaging in civil discourse that respects students who may hold different views,” she writes.

53%

The percentage of young Americans who will “definitely be voting" in the 2024 U.S. general election, according to the latest IOP Youth poll.

America's Crisis of Civic Virtue

Millions of Americans—more than half in many polls—have lost faith in democracy. And many blame the economy, and especially a capitalist system they see as rapacious and as the cause of too much power concentrated in too few hands. But Professor Arthur Brooks argues that “the problem for democracy today is not capitalism; it is a decline in public honesty and civility, which are necessary to govern free markets and are also central to a democratic society. In an essay in the Journal of Democracy, Brooks argues that reestablishment of “honesty and civility, in politics, the media, academia, and other institutions ... should be our priority.”

WhAT WE'RE READING

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Seventy percent of America is not happy with who our nominees are—but we picked them.”

— Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at a JFK Jr. Forum event

For more HKS insights on democracy and governance, visit our policy topic page.

Democracy and Governance

Democracy Insights is powered by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard's hub for research, analysis, and discussion of democracy around the world.