Panelists

The electoral college has been part of the US voting systems for more than two centuries. Debate on why it is still in use rather than the popular vote is very present from the general population. Comments such as “outdated,” “anti-democratic,” and “arbitrary” fly around as critiques against the institution. Join us as we discuss the history of the electoral college, if it should remain, and the mechanics behind the scenes.

Lori Cox Han is Professor of Political Science and Doy B. Henley Endowed Chair in American Presidential Studies at Chapman University. Her research and teaching expertise include the presidency, women and politics, media and politics, and political leadership. She is the author of numerous books, including Advising Nixon: The White House Memos of Patrick J. Buchanan (University Press of Kansas, 2019); Presidents and the American Presidency, 2^nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2018); Women, Power, and Politics: The Fight for Gender Equality in the United States (Oxford University Press, 2018); In It to Win: Electing Madam President (Bloomsbury, 2015); and A Presidency Upstaged: The Public Leadership of George H. W. Bush (Texas A&M University Press, 2011). She is also the editor of several scholarly volumes, including Madam President? Gender and Politics on the Road to the White House (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2020); Hatred of America’s Presidents: Personal Attacks on the White House from Washington to Trump (ABC-CLIO, 2018); and New Directions in the American Presidency, 2^nd ed. (Routledge, 2018). Her research has been published in PS: Political Science & Politics, American Politics Research, Presidential Studies Quarterly, and Congress and the Presidency. Dr. Han is past president of Presidents and Executive Politics, an organized section of the American Political Science Association devoted to the study of the presidency. She received her PhD in Political Science from the University of Southern California.

David Gray Adler is President of The Alturas Institute, a non-profit organization created to promote the Constitution, gender equality, and civic education. A recipient of teaching, writing and civic awards, Adler has lectured nationally and internationally, and published widely, on the Constitution, presidential power and the Bill of Rights. He is the author of six books, including, most recently, The War Power in an Age of Terrorism, as well as more than 100 scholarly articles in the leading journals of his field. He is currently writing a book on the landmark Supreme Court decision in Reed v. Reed, which had its origins in Idaho and transformed the law for American women. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will write the foreword to the book, the research and writing of which is supported by a research fellowship from the Idaho Humanities Council.

Adler’s scholarly writings have been quoted by the U.S. Supreme Court, lower federal courts, the U.S. Attorney General, the White House Counsel, the Legal Adviser to the State Department, by Republicans and Democrats in both houses of Congress, as well as political scientists, historians and law professors. He has consulted with members of Congress from both parties on a variety of constitutional issues, including impeachment, the war power and the termination of treaties. He has delivered more than 700 public lectures throughout Idaho, and writes Op-Ed pieces that run regularly in six newspapers across our state, and in papers across the country.

A frequent commentator on state and national events, Adler’s lectures have aired on C-Span, and he has done interviews with reporters from the New York Times, Washington Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, National Review, The Nation Magazine, Mother Jones, Fox News, NPR, NBC, CNN and the BBC. Adler has served as a member of the Board of Directors of various academic, corporate and civic organizations, and is a founding member of the City Club of Idaho Falls. He earned a B.A. from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Utah.