In each “On Leadership” column, Allen Lima Leadership Executive Director Matt Childers talks with a regional business leader. This week, he profiles Dr. Robert Alexander, professor of political science at Ohio Northern University and author of “Representation and the Electoral College.”
In this column we showcase leadership. With the ultimate leadership position on the ballot Tuesday, I wanted to give our readers an opportunity to hear from Dr. Alexander on how we elect the most important leadership position in the USA.
Matt: When did you know you wanted to become an educator?
Dr. Alexander: I am a first -generation college kid. I am from Fostoria, Ohio. My parents worked at the Autolite Spark Plug Plant. They knew one thing, that they were going to send their kids to college. I always liked civics and social studies, I didn’t love math. (laughs) I thought I was going to be a lawyer, not unlike a lot of political science majors. However, I started tutoring in my junior year of college, and a professor, Ellen Wilson, shared with me that schools will pay for graduate school to become a professor. So I went on to get my Ph. D from the University of Tennessee.
Matt: What was it about the Electoral College that captured your interest?
Dr. Alexander: It was really happenstance. I had a professor in graduate school who approached me and shared that nobody knows anything about electors. So when we vote, we are voting for a slate of electors. These electors then vote about five weeks after you and I vote. That is the actual Electoral College. Nobody knows who those people are. You may see their names, maybe?
Matt: Then you come to Ohio Northern University and continue the research on the Electoral College?
Dr. Alexander: At Ohio Northern University, our students picked up this project on electors with a grant we received. We conducted surveys of the “electors” following the 2000 election (Bush v. Gore), and the information we found speaks to the issues of the “electors” and all of the background issues that encompassed the 2000 election. Those “electors” were under intense pressure to maintain their vote or change their vote. That was data we found that no one had ever found before. We found that with five weeks or more after the vote, there is a lot of time there. In that time, election boards certify results. In 2000, George W. Bush won the Electoral College by one vote. Those 271 electoral votes represent 271 human beings.
Matt: When your students are 20 years older, do you anticipate that the Electoral College will be the “Say of the Land”?
Dr. Alexander: That’s kind of the million-dollar question. The Electoral College is one of the most resilient institutions in all of American politics. The Electoral College is resilient but also one of the most maligned institutions in all of American politics. There have been nearly 800 attempts to amend or abolish it over time. The Electoral College that the Framers created fell apart pretty quickly. What we have today is not what the Framers anticipated. It has changed, but it hasn’t changed a lot. The reality is that to amend the Constitution is a very tall task. If there is to be a change, it has to be bipartisan.
Matt: What do you want your students to know about the Electoral College and the atmosphere around it?
Dr. Alexander: I want them to think! I want them to approach issues with an open mind and peel away some of the partisanship and preconceived notions that they may have, thinking of things in a deep fashion and as objectively as possible. On the research side, don’t take “no” for an answer — keep pushing. On the research we did on electors, all people see are the successes. You don’t see the failures. You don’t see when someone kicks you in the teeth, and you feel like giving up, and students learn from both of these.
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