This is my understanding from reading Robert Dahl’s ‘How Democratic is the American Constitution’
The three undemocratic elements identified are:
1. Popular votes v/s electoral votes: 1876 election can be used to understand this flaw. Rutherford B Hayes did not receive the popular vote but won the election. This was because, the Southern democrats used electoral votes as a tool of blackmail to remove federal troops placed in the south. This is extremely undemocratic as the people aren’t deciding who wins but the parties are pushing their needs over those of the majority. This violates Madison’s idea of a republic as well.
2. Winning with a minority of popular votes: This can be witnessed in the 2016 presidential elections when former president Donald Trump was elected president with 45.8% of the popular votes. A win by minority is undemocratic leadership in its purest form. Dahl says that such a win is extremely common and has occurred 18 times before 2003.
3. Unequal representation of voters: I believe that this is the most undemocratic element of the constitution and therefore its greatest flaw. The example used by Dahl in his book is by comparing the power of an individual’s vote in Wisconsin to a California resident’s. The former voter’s vote is 4 times as effective as that of the latter. This is a big problem when elections are close. Hillary Clinton had more votes than Donald Trump in terms of the popular vote, however, his victory in small states allowed him to become 45th president. This caused a lot of outrage and led to Americans paying more attention to the electoral system and its unfairness.