electoral college

Also known as the Electorate. A very complex way of electing the President of the United States that is mandated in the Constitution. Each state is given a number of electors or electoral votes by population—California 54 and Wyoming 3—equal to the number of electors it has in the Congress. On election day Americans actually vote for an elector to cast their vote rather than voting for the President himself, despite what the ballot says. Most states have a “winner take all” system that gives all of its electoral votes to the candidate with the most votes. However, some states have no law, and the electors may vote for the candidate they wish or their electoral votes will be awarded based on the popular vote. Six weeks after the general election and the popular vote, the chosen electors travel to their state capital to cast their vote for President; these are the actual votes cast for the President. The candidate with at least 270 electoral votes (one more vote than 50% of the total electoral votes) is the winner. The electoral college and not the popular vote, is what actually elects the President. This system was put in place by our Founding Fathers in the Constitution but resulted in two candidates—one being George W. Bush in 2000—being elected after losing the popular vote. The electoral college has come under fire a few times (usually by liberals who don’t like the Constitution), but works in general. The last time was in 2000 after George W. Bush defeated Vice President Al Gore. The system isn’t perfect but ideal in a Representative Republic like the United States. Changing it would require a Constitutional Amendment by the Congress and a majority of the fifty states.