electoral college

noun

variants or Electoral College

plural electoral colleges or Electoral Colleges

: a body of electors

Voting has now closed in the parliamentary party vote, which means all three electoral colleges have finished voting.

—Hugh Linehan and Harry McGee

He chairs the electoral college of the Culinary Institute of America's Vintners Hall of Fame …

—Cy Musiker

especially, usually Electoral College : one that elects the president and vice president of the U.S.

If the Electoral College did end up tied, the Constitution dictates that it's the incoming Congress who breaks the stalemate, with the House of Representatives determining the president—but instead of voting as 435 individual members, each state votes as a single bloc.

—Trevor Bach

In the electoral college, Roosevelt buried Wilkie 449 to 82.

—Mary Beth Norton et al.

Examples of electoral college in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Giuliani was also indicted last year by a grand jury in Georgia, where he is accused of spearheading Trump's efforts to compel state lawmakers in Georgia to ignore the will of voters and illegally appoint pro-Trump electoral college electors. —CBS News, 18 May 2024

Two Biden leaners agreed that the electoral college system didn't reflect the will of the majority of Americans and thought that a different system would allow more people's votes to count. —Monica Potts, ABC News, 17 May 2024

At the same time, many of the GOP members voicing doubts now publicly, or privately, will remain in a position to challenge electoral college results from key states. —Sarah D. Wire, USA TODAY, 15 May 2024

The President tallied 221 electoral college votes to McClellan’s 21 and won the popular vote by a margin of roughly 10 percent. —TIME, 15 May 2024

Ultimately, Perot lost the general election to Clinton, garnering 19% of the popular vote but no electoral college votes. —Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 8 May 2024

The decennial count determines each state's share of House representatives and electoral college votes. —Suzanne Nuyen, NPR, 6 May 2024

The slide show presentation included three different electoral college maps, the attendees said. —Shane Goldmacher, New York Times, 4 May 2024

These are the 11 Arizonans who signed documents claiming to be legitimate electors for Trump, though Democrat Joe Biden won Arizona's votes in the electoral college. —Stacey Barchenger, USA TODAY, 25 Apr. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1677, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

electoral college

noun

: a body of electors

especially : one that elects the president and vice president of the U.S.

Legal Definition

electoral college

noun

elec·​tor·​al college

often capitalized E&C

: a body of electors

specifically : the body of electors chosen from each state to elect the president and vice president of the U.S.

Note: Under Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, each state chooses electors in the same number that the state has senators and representatives. In all the states except Maine and Nebraska, the candidate that wins a plurality of the popular votes wins all of the state's electoral votes.