Harvard, Stanford, and Cornell College are all renowned colleges, but have you heard of the Electoral College? It has been in existence for over two hundred years. This is a unique college where the only requirement to participate is that one must be at least eighteen years old. The Electoral College has no campus, meal tickets, football team, or even academics. However, it could be the most important college because it helps American society make one very important decision, determining the President. The Electoral College is not actually a "college," it is a voting method. This is the only voting method ever used to elect the President; however, it may not represent the voters' choices as accurately as other methods. Was the 2000 election a true reflection of the voters' choices, when Gore received over half a million more votes than Bush, but Bush became the president? A nationwide popular vote will reflect the voters' choices better than the Electoral College, which has become obsolete.
The Electoral College is the method of voting for electing the President of our nation and is based on a state's population. The candidate that receives a majority of the votes in each state acquires the Electoral College votes for that state. The amount of electoral votes each state receives is equal to the number of members in the House of Representatives plus one vote for each of its two Senators. As stated by Hodge (2005) in the book The Mathematics of Voting and Elections, " These electoral votes are actually physically cast by individuals called electors." To win the presidential election, a candidate must receive at least 270 Electoral College votes. If none of the candidates receive 270 votes then the 12th Amendment dictates that the House of Representatives will determine the president. When the presidential election takes place, a nationwide popular vote is conducted simultaneously.