Some groups enraged by the 2000 presidential election have called for the abolishment of the Electoral College, yet one group, the League of Women Voters, consistently has been testifying for the abolition since 1970.
Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins, the president of the League of Women Voters, spoke Friday in Minor Hall Auditorium before a group of about 100 students and community members on her organization's stance on abolishing the Electoral College. The Jefferson Literary and Debating Society sponsored the debate.
The LWV is a nonpartisan political organization that works mainly to increase political participation and education of citizens.
The LWV claims the current system is antiquated, Jefferson-Jenkins said.
"The founding fathers did not believe that citizens have the wherewithal to directly elect their president," she said.
She added that the framers of the Constitution, mostly members of a "conservative and propertied class," were out to protect their interests in government and, thus, instituted the Electoral College.
The LWV seeks to create a direct popular vote for the president and vice-president with a caveat that a winner would need to garner 40 percent of the popular vote.
If no candidate met the requirement, a run-off election would be held, Jefferson-Jenkins offered.
Recent events, such as the 2000 presidential election, have caused more Americans to favor removing the Electoral College, she said.
"But if past experience proves anything, current desire for reform will wane as citizens turn to apathy towards the current system," she added.
The audience was mainly skeptical of the League's desire to abandon the Electoral College. Most questions addressed the possibility of smaller states being ignored in the presidential campaign and the likelihood of this reform.
Jefferson-Jenkins said she knew it was unlikely that change would come soon because abolishing the Electoral College requires a constitutional amendment. Two-thirds of each house of Congress and three-fourths of the states would have to approve the amendment.
Amendments to reform the system were not successful in the past. There have been 500 proposed amendments, yet none received debate by both Congressional houses, Jefferson-Jenkins said.
Carrie Brown, an alumna of the University, said she was not convinced that the League's reasoning for the changes would sway its opponents.
"I think [Jefferson-Jenkins] had a lot of good points, but she's not likely to change minds," Brown said.
Even Jefferson-Jenkins's claim that the system was antiquated came under attack by the audience. Some in the audience said they thought the founders' belief that the populace was not qualified to elect the president directly is still correct.
Jefferson-Jenkins is the LWVs' 15th president and also the author of the The Road to Black Suffrage and One Man One Vote: The History of the African-American Vote in the United States.
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