Pinning a Face on the Electoral College: A Survey of the Class of 2000

The 2000 presidential election was an historic election. Many Americans revisited that institution given its perfunctory three paragraphs in their high school civics texts—the Electoral College. The closeness of the election and the ambiguity of electoral versus popular votes made many question how presidents are chosen. The realization that citizens vote not for candidates, but for electors further complicated understanding. Although many experts detailed the reasons for the Electoral College, the problems associated with it, and the infamous elections resulting from it, little was said about those for whom we actually cast our ballots. Simply put, we know surprisingly little about those who serve as electors. The conventional wisdom is that electors are chosen for their party service and/or their financial contributions. Beyond this impressionistic understanding, a great vacuum of knowledge exists.