electoral college
Indirect voting body
An electoral college is any body of electors chosen to select a candidate for office, rather than having the general population vote directly.
The concept appears in various contexts—papal elections, university governance, historical European systems—where a smaller group of designated voters makes the final decision.
Several countries use some form of electoral college for presidential elections. (Capitalized Electoral College refers specifically to the U.S. system.)
- delegatesChosen representatives or assigns
- primariesIntraparty nomination contests
- representativesThose acting for others
- caucusParty selection meeting
- voterBallot-casting citizen
swing voter · winner-take-all · voting rights · nominees · candidates · ballots · vote count · majority · representative democracy · plurality · battleground states · faithless · founding fathers · constitutional amendment · swing states · red states · blue states · voter turnout
- Early RepublicGeorge Washington, Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Constitutional Convention
- civicsballot, ballots, Bill of Rights, branches of government, checks and balances
- democracyvote, voting, elections, ballot, ballots
- electionsballot, ballots, voter registration, candidates, polls
- governmentgovernment, ministries, legislature, judiciary, executive branch
- politicsdemocracy, campaigning, campaigns, democrats, bill
electoral collegepopular vote
Total of citizen votes
direct election · direct democracy · plebiscite · referendum · proportional representation
electoral collegemajority rule
Decisions by greater number
pure democracy · popular sovereignty · universal suffrage · mob rule · tyranny of the majority
college, elect, election, electoral, elector, electorate, electors, reelect, collegiate