electoral college

In the US government, the indirect system of voting for the president and vice-president. The people of each state officially vote not for the presidential candidate, but for a list of electors nominated by each party. The whole electoral-college vote of the state then goes to the winning party (and candidate). A majority is required for election.

The USA has as many electors as it has senators and representatives in Congress, so that the electoral college numbers 538 (535 state electors and three from the District of Columbia), and a majority of 270 electoral votes is needed to win. The system can lead to a presidential candidate being elected with a minority of the total vote over the whole country (as happened when Benjamin Harrison was elected over Grover Cleveland in 1888, and when George W Bush was elected over Al Gore in 2000). It has been proposed, for example by President Carter in 1977, to substitute a direct popular vote.

A constitutional amendment to this effect failed in 1979, partly because minority groups argued that this would deprive them of their politically influential block vote in key states.