Ever wonder how we ended up with the Electoral College? A new virtual reality experience lets you get inside the 1787 debate over how a U.S. president should be elected.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Why is the U.S. president elected by the Electoral College? Dates back to the earliest debates about the Constitution. A new virtual reality experience lets you be in the room where it happened. Randi Hagi with member station WMRA reports.
RANDI HAGI, BYLINE: Imagine Philadelphia’s Independence Hall in 1787 – the founders of the American government in breeches and frock coats, debating the structure of the House and the Senate, the perpetuation of the international slave trade and how the new nation would elect its presidents.
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UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR #1: (As Gouverneur Morris) He ought to be elected by the people at large.
HAGI: That’s a voice actor portraying Gouverneur Morris, the Convention delegate from Pennsylvania.
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UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR #1: (As Gouverneur Morris) If the legislature elect, it will be the work of intrigue, of cabal and of faction.
HAGI: He’s part of a new virtual reality program called “The Great Experiment,” created by Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia. It’s meant for high school and college students. With a $300 VR headset, you can watch and debate historical figures such as Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts…
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UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR #2: (As Elbridge Gerry) I am against a popular election. The people are uninformed and would be misled by a few designing men.
HAGI: …And Benjamin Franklin.
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UNIDENTIFIED VOICE ACTOR #3: (As Benjamin Franklin) This unusual idea of an Electoral College appears to be gaining ground and resolving our difficulties.
HAGI: The script is based on comprehensive notes taken by James Madison and others at the convention. Kevin Hardwick, one of the historians involved, introduced the project at a launch event as a piece of scholarship.
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KEVIN HARDWICK: We are proud that our work has been peer-reviewed and will be published in association with the University of Virginia Press.
HAGI: It took over 100 people and five years to create the virtual reality of the Constitutional Convention. Students photographed sculptures of the delegates to make models for their 3D avatars. Voice actors recorded the Founding Fathers’ words. Their gestures came alive through actors in motion-capture suits in front of a green screen. Sally Anderson directed the movement actors. She mused about the confines of the technology.
SALLY ANDERSON: You know, are you somebody who is, you know, gesturing all the time? You can’t necessarily do that because they keep finding their hands disappearing.
HAGI: But eventually, they figured it out. Warren Hofstra, another historian on the project, says this year’s contentious election shows how important it is to examine the origins of the Electoral College.
WARREN HOFSTRA: We need to talk about it. We need to better understand it, to debate it. Also, we need the safe space that a virtual experience provides, literally to be in the room where it happened and when it happened.
HAGI: The college is making a limited version of “The Great Experiment” available for free, but only for Meta brand headsets. The developers say they’re working to offer the software on other virtual platforms soon.
For NPR News, I’m Randi B. Hagi in Winchester, Virginia.
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