Only six states require their Members of Congress to be elected with a majority of the vote. All other states allow for plurality winners who, in multi-candidate elections, get more votes than any other candidate, but over half of the voters might have wanted someone else. What does that mean in a representative democracy with an allegiance to majority rule? And for a candidate who can’t win their own party’s primary election (because they aren’t favored by the relatively small and intense base of primary voters), but who would be the most preferred candidate in the general election, what is the effect of a plurality-winner rule?
Our panel of experts will tackle these questions as we search for ways to protect our system of democracy. The panel will be moderated by Professor Steven Huefner, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
PANELISTS:
Franita Tolson | Vice Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs, and Professor of Law, University of Southern California Gould School of Law
Derek Muller | Bouma Fellow in Law and Professor of Law at University of Iowa College of Law
Rachel Kleinfeld | Senior Fellow in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Edward Foley | Ebersold Chair in Constitutional Law at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, and Director of Election Law at Ohio State