An idea put in place to prevent one city, region, or demography from deciding who the next president is. The main goal is to force a presidential candidate to have to win over voters all across the country. Although it doesnt always work, it often times prevents what happens in New York state, from happening on a larger scale. Even though New York state is relatively half and half on the political spectrum, every election New York state ends up being won for the democrats because New York City is about 70% liberal and contains about half of the state's population.
Without the Electoral college, what happens almost every election in New York state could happen to the whole country, where the interests of one region determine the effects on the whole country
by Sensfan19_15 March 8, 2008
by Chris K. November 3, 2004
1: A system designed to give people living under rocks in Wyoming an inordinate amount of control over the government of the most powerful country in history. See also senate.
2: When somebody in Wyoming fucks up the rest of your life and then has the fucking gall to act smug about it.
2: When somebody in Wyoming fucks up the rest of your life and then has the fucking gall to act smug about it.
by Chazschwab September 7, 2004
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.
by krock1dk@yahoo.com August 19, 2008
Bull shit idea that makes it so the person who won the popular vot, usually doesn't become president.
by Sam April 5, 2005
The electoral college is the most worthless piece of shit I have ever seen in my life! Look who it elected!
by JesusIsMyDaddy January 30, 2017
A group of people who represent states, and are the ones that do the actual voting. It's also the reason why Trump got elected, despite the fact that more people voted for Hillary. The electoral college is why your vote probably doesn't matter. (still vote though it's good for you)
by lil.wayne March 9, 2019