Heritage Foundation legal expert Hans von Spakovsky and visiting fellow Allen Guelzo are featured in a new documentary debuting Sept. 8 on Amazon Prime. The film, “Safeguard: An Electoral College Story,” details the history of the Electoral College and the many myths and misconceptions surrounding it.
As an expert on election law, von Spakovsky provides important context and arguments for maintaining and protecting the constitutional system for choosing our president. In recent years, the Electoral College has come under increased scrutiny from the left, including some who want to abolish it.
That led the nonprofit organization Save Our States to produce the 75-minute documentary.
“The Electoral College is so misunderstood, and so subject to assumptions and half-truths,” Trent England, executive director of Save Our States, told The Washington Times. “But it’s a fascinating institution. I thought there was a good story to tell that can help Americans understand and appreciate the constitutional system we have through the Electoral College, which has become more interesting to Americans over the last four years.”
Heritage has been a leading voice in the fight to protect the Electoral College and von Spakovsky is one of its most ardent defenders. He serves as manager of Heritage’s Election Law Reform Initiative and a senior legal fellow in the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies.
Guelzo is an acclaimed scholar of American history whose writings have been recognized as among the most important contributions to scholarly and public understanding of 19th century America. He contributed his wide knowledge of the Founders to help the producers of the documentary understand the background and justification for the Electoral College.
In 2020 alone, Heritage experts have participated in hundreds of interviews on national TV, radio, and in newspaper outlets about the importance of maintaining the integrity of our elections and electoral system.
In a commentary from 2017, von Spakovsky writes: “The Electoral College is a very carefully considered structure the Framers of the Constitution set up to balance the competing interests of large and small states. It prevents candidates from winning an election by focusing only on high-population urban centers (the big cities), ignoring smaller states and the more rural areas of the country—the places that progressives and media elites consider flyover country.”
This year, von Spakovsky and other Heritage policy analysts worked together to produce “The Essential Electoral College,” a primer on the Electoral College. The booklet explains the system in simple terms for all Americans to understand.
The booklet has already been distributed widely, including to 40 state think tanks and every member of the Republican National Committee.
With the 2020 presidential election approaching, von Spakovsky and his Heritage colleges are committed to ensuring that the institutions essential to our democratic system are safeguarded.
