Secondary Sources

Secondary sources in the field of law offer analysis, commentary, or a restatement of primary law, and are used to help locate and explain primary sources of law. This section presents a select list of books and scholarly articles in the Law Library's collections on the topic of the law of the Electoral College. The list of books also includes bibliographies on the Electoral College. Where possible, the researcher is directed to online resources for accessing the materials. Some of the listed scholarly articles are not freely available online and the researcher is referred to HeinOnline, a subscription research database available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress (marked with a padlock ). If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.

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The Law Journal Library includes more than 1,250 law and law-related periodicals.

Books & Bibliographies
Scholarly Articles

Below, please find selected books and bibliographies on the subject of the Electoral College. Many of the following titles listed below link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional digital content are provided when available.

The Constitution Annotated

As explained on the about page for the Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation (Constitution Annotated), this resource "provides a legal analysis and interpretation of the United States Constitution based on a comprehensive review of Supreme Court case law and, where relevant, historical practices that have defined the text of the Constitution....In publication for over 100 years, the Constitution Annotated is a comprehensive, government-sanctioned record of the interpretations of the Constitution."

Some Constitution Annotated essays of interest include:

Constitution Annotated: Article II, Section 1, Clause 2
Congressional Research Service
Constitution Annotated: Twelfth Amendment
Congressional Research Service
Constitution Annotated: Twenty-Third Amendment
Congressional Research Service

Law Library Collections

America Votes! Challenges to Modern Election Law and Voting Rights by Benjamin E. Griffith & John Hardin Young (eds.)
Call Number: KF4886 .A86 2020
Published/Created: 2020
Election Law by Daniel Hays Lowenstein; Richard Hasen; Daniel Tokaji; Nicholas Stephanopoulos
Call Number: KF4886 .L69 2022
Published/Created: 2022
Presidential Elections and Majority Rule: The Rise, Demise, and Potential Restoration of the Jeffersonian Electoral College by Edward B. Foley
Call Number: KF4910 .F65 2020
Published/Created: 2020
Reforming the Electoral Process in America by Brian L. Fife
Call Number: KF4886 .F544 2010
Published/Created: 2010
Treatise on Constitutional Law: Substance and Procedure by Ronald D. Rotunda & John E. Nowak
Call Number: KF4550 .R63 2012
Published/Created: 2012
Chapter 9 discusses the Electoral College.
Who Will Be the Next President? A Guide to the U.S. Presidential Election System by Alexander S. Belenky
ISBN: 9783319446967
Published/Created: 2016
Ebook available onsite via Stacks. Also available via SpringerLink External.

Bibliographies

Bibliography on the Electoral College: Its Creation, History, and Prospects for Reform by Christopher Anglim
Call Number: Z7164.R4 A54 1992
Published/Created: 1992
Digitized copy available on HeinOnline.
Selected Bibliography on the Electoral College System by Oklahoma State Library
Call Number: Z7164.R4 O4
Published/Created: 1953

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional digital content are provided when available.

American Bar Association Journal
Call Number: K1 .M385
- John D. Feerick, The Electoral College: Why It Was Created, 54 A.B.A. J. 249 (1968) (available at HeinOnline).
- Herbert Wechsler, Presidential Elections and the Constitution: A Comment on a Proposed Amendment, 35 A.B.A. J. 181 (1949).
Arizona Law Review
Call Number: K1 .R48
Keith E. Whittington, Originalism, Constitutional Construction, and the Problem of Faithless Electors, 59 Ariz. L. Rev. 903 (2017) (available at Arizona Law Review External).
Arizona State Law Journal
Call Number: K1 .R5
Derek T. Muller, Invisible Federalism and the Electoral College, 44 Ariz. St. L.J. 1237 (2012) (available at SSRN External).
Brigham Young University Law Review
Call Number: K2 .R48
Norman R. Williams, Why the National Popular Vote Compact is Unconstitutional, 2012 BYU L. Rev. 1523 (2012) (available at BYU Law Digital Commons External).
Cardozo Law Review
Call Number: K3 .A69
- Paul Finkelman, The Proslavery Origins of the Electoral College, 23 Cardozo L. Rev. 1145 (2002) (available at SSRN External).
- Michael Herz, How the Electoral College Imitates the World Series, 23 Cardozo L. Rev. 1191 (2002) (available at LARC @ Cardozo Law External).
Case Western Reserve Law Review
Call Number: K3 .A786
Katherine Florey, Losing Bargain: Why Winner-Take-All Vote Assignment Is the Electoral College's Least Defensible Feature, 68 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 317 (2017) (available at Case Western Reserve Law Review External).
Columbia Law Review
Call Number: K3 .O355
Note, State Power to Bind Presidential Electors, 65 Colum. L. Rev. 696 (1965) (available at HeinOnline).
Dickinson Law Review
Call Number: K4 .I653
L. Kinvin Wroth, Election Contests and the Electoral Vote, 65 Dick. L. Rev. 321 (1961) (available at HeinOnline).
Florida State University Law Review
Call Number: K6 .L67
Luis Fuentes-Rohwer & Guy-Uriel Charles, The Electoral College, the Right to Vote, and Our Federalism: A Comment on a Lasting Institution, 29 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 879 (2002) (available at Florida State University Law Review External).
Fordham Law Review
Call Number: K6 .O728
John D. Feerick, The Electoral College - Why It Ought To Be Abolished, 38 Fordham L. Rev. 1 (1968) (available at Fordham Law Review External).
Georgetown Law Journal
Call Number: K7 .E645
- Vikram David Amar, Response: The Case for Reforming Presidential Elections by Subconstitutional Means: The Electoral College, the National Popular Vote Compact, and Congressional Power, 100 Geo. L.J. 237 (2011) (available at SSRN External).
- Norman R. Williams, Reforming the Electoral College: Federalism, Majoritarianism, and the Perils of Subconstitutional Change,100 Geo. L.J. 173 (2011) (available at SSRN External).
Harvard Law & Policy Review
Call Number: K8 .A6897
Michael T. Morley, The Framer's Inadvertent Gift: The Electoral College and the Constitutional Infirmities of the National Popular Vote Compact, 15 Harv. L. & Pol'y Rev. 81 (2020) (available at SSRN External).
Harvard Law Review
Call Number: K8 .A69
Article II - Electoral College - Faithless Electors - Chiafalo v. Washington, 134 Harv. L. Rev. 420 (2020) (available at Harvard Law Review External).
Journal of Law & Politics
Call Number: K10 .O87315
Beverly J. Ross & William Josephson, The Electoral College and the Popular Vote, 12 J.L. & Pol. 665 (1996) (available at HeinOnline).
Journal of Legislation
Call Number: K14 .D13
William H. Josephson & Beverly J. Ross, Repairing the Electoral College, 22 J. Legis. 145 (1996) (available at Notre Dame Journal of Legislation External).
Law and Contemporary Problems
Call Number: K12 .A9
Estes Kefauver, The Electoral College: Old Reforms Take on a New Look, 27 Law & Contemp. Probs. 188 (1962) (available at Duke Law Scholarship Repository External).
Louisiana Law Review
Call Number: K12 .O863
Charles L. Black, Jr. The Faithless Elector: A Contracts Problem, 38 La. L. Rev. 31 (1977) (available at LSU Law Digital Commons External).
Marquette Law Review
Call Number: K13 .A684
- Paul Boudreaux, The Electoral College and Its Meager Federalism, 88 Marq. L. Rev. 195 (2004) (available at Marquette Law Review External).
- Victor Williams & Alison M. MacDonald, Rethinking Article II, Section 1 and its Twelfth Amendment Restatement: Challenging Our Nation's Malapportioned, Undemocratic Presidential Election Systems, 77 Marq. L. Rev. 201 (2009) (available at Marquette Law Review External).
Michigan Law Review
Call Number: K13 .I35
Albert J. Rosenthal, The Constitution, Congress, and Presidential Electors, 67 Mich. L. Rev. 1 (1968) (available at Michigan Law Review External).
Nebraska Law Review
Call Number: K14 .E25
Richard F. Duncan, Electoral Votes, the Senate, and Article V: How the Architecture of the Constitution Promotes Federalism and Government by Consensus, 96 Neb. L. Rev. 799 (2017) (available at Nebraska Law Review External).
Northwestern University Law Review
Call Number: K14 .O77
- Akhil Reed Amar, The Inaugural Abraham Lincoln Lecture on Constitutional Law: Electoral College Reform, Lincoln-Style, 112 Nw. U. L. Rev. 63 (2017) (available at Northwestern University Law Review External).
- Robert W. Bennett, The Problem of the Faithless Elector: Trouble Aplenty Brewing Just Below the Surface in Choosing the President, 100 Nw. U. L. Rev. 121 (2006) (available at HeinOnline).
Ohio Northern University Law Review
Call Number: K15 .H56
- Akhil Reed Amar, Some Thoughts on the Electoral College: Past, Present, and Future, 33 Ohio N.U. L. Rev. 467 (2007) (available at Yale Law School Scholarship External).
- L. Darnell Weeden, Response to Professor Amar: Some Thoughts on the Electoral College's Past, Present, and Future, 34 Ohio N.U. L. Rev. 393 (2008) (available at HeinOnline).
Pepperdine Law Review
Call Number: K16 .E65
John Yoo, A Defense of the Electoral College in the Age of Trump, 46 Pepp. L. Rev. 833 (2019) (available at Pepperdine Law Review External).
Rutgers Law Journal
Call Number: K22 .U8
Earl M. Maltz, The Presidency, the Electoral College, and the Three-Fifths Clause, 43 Rutgers L.J. 439 (2013) (pre-publication version available at SSRN External).
Southern California Law Review
Call Number: K23 .O76
Michael J. O'Sullivan, Artificial Unit Voting and the Electoral College, 65 S. Cal. L. Rev. 2421 (1992) (available at HeinOnline).
Tennessee Journal of Law & Policy
Call Number: K24 .E49
Christopher Duquette & David Schultz, One Person, One Vote and the Constitutionality of the Winner-Take-All Allocation of Electoral College Votes, 2 Tenn. J. L. & Pol'y 453 (2014) (available at Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy External).
University of Miami Law Review
Call Number: K25 .N65
Nathan L. Colvin & Edward B Foley, The Twelfth Amendment: A Constitutional Ticking Time Bomb, 64 U. Miami L. Rev. 475 (2010) (available at University of Miami Law Review External).
Villanova Law Review
Call Number: K26 .I56
- John F. Banzhaf III, One Man, 3.312 Votes: A Mathematical Analysis of the Electoral College, 13 Vill. L. Rev. 304 (1968) (available at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository External)
- Albert J. Rosenthal, Some Doubts Concerning the Proposal to Elect the President by Direct Popular Vote, 14 Vill. L. Rev. 87 (1968) (available at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository External).
- Robert J. Sickels, The Power Index and the Electoral College: A Challenge to Banzhaf's Analysis, 14 Vill. L. Rev. 92 (1968) (available at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository External)
Washington and Lee Law Review
Call Number: K27 .A77
Richard L. Hasen, Beyond the Margin of Litigation: Reforming U.S. Election Administration to Avoid Electoral Meltdown, 62 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 937 (2005) (available at Washington & Lee University School of Law Scholarly Commons External).

The Law of the Electoral College

Secondary Sources

The Constitution Annotated

Law Library Collections

Bibliographies