It's simpler than regular college.

It's actually the name of a group of people who choose the U.

S.

President.

Why them, and not just citizens Through a popular vote?

Well, some of the founding fathers weren't completely comfortable with the direct election by the people they wanted to buffer or limit that they didn't think the average American was really in tune with politics.

Electors, on the other hand, are all over him.

I need your vote.

Here's how the system works.

Each state gets a certain number of electoral votes.

The more people who live in a state, the more electoral votes it gets.

Take California most populous state in the nation.

55 electoral votes.

South Dakota freak.

Not many, but it doesn't have nearly as many residents is the Golden State.

Every statement main in Nebraska has a winner take all election system.

That means whoever wins the state's popular vote wins all of its electoral votes.

What kinds of numbers are we talking?

Well, there are 538 electors in the Electoral College, so you need just over half of them 270 to win the election.

But you can't just win the top five states with the most electoral votes in a close contest between two candidates, every electoral vote counts, and here's where it gets tricky.

Electoral College is supposed to reflect what most Americans want, but it is possible for a candidate to win the popular vote and lose the Electoral College and therefore the election.

Former Vice President Al Gore, for example, won the popular vote in 2000 but lost the Electoral College and the election.

Same thing happened in 18 76 to Samuel J.

Tilden and 18 88 to Grover Cleveland.

Did some folks get mad at the college?

Uh huh.

But despite hundreds of proposals to change that or get rid of it, it hasn't happened in part because it allows smaller states to still have some power in an election and because it would take changing the U.

S.

Constitution.