I'm Lindsay Chervinsky, executive director
\n\nof the George Washington Presidential Library.
\n\nI'm here to answer your questions today from the internet.
\n\nlonelady75 asks, Why does the American
\n\nelection campaign process take so long?
\n\nbut imagine Congress passed a bill saying
\n\nthis was the moment when candidates
\n\nwere supposed to declare their election
\n\nIf a candidate declared before then
\n\nthey would likely bring a lawsuit challenging
\n\nthe bill's restrictions on their freedom of speech.
\n\nOne of our most important amendments is our First Amendment,
\n\nwhich guarantees a certain amount of political speech,
\n\nAnd various different levels of American courts,
\n\nhave been very protective of political speech.
\n\nSo it would be very difficult to put limitations
\n\non the political process in this way
\n\nbecause they would likely be struck down by the court.
\n\nBoth parties have reason to hate the Electoral College,
\n\nThe Electoral College exists because it is in
\n\nthe Constitution and it is incredibly difficult to change.
\n\nThe interesting thing about the Electoral College
\n\nat the Constitutional Convention opposed direct election
\n\nof the president because they worried
\n\nthat it would lead to a demagogue or mob rule.
\n\nSo they wanted to have some sort of check
\n\nbetween American voters and…
Original source: https://www.wired.com/