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

For even though Jefferson soundly defeated the incumbent on his second go round, an awkward electoral college tie between Jefferson and his running mate, Aaron Burr, delayed his victory and led almost immediately to the ratification of the 12th amendment. —TIME, 4 Apr. 2024

If Trump were to win all of Nebraska's electoral votes, including the Omaha swing district, the electoral college would be tied at 269 to 269, sending the outcome of the election to the U.S. House to be decided. —Hunter Woodall, CBS News, 4 Apr. 2024

Happily, one of Eastman’s fellow henchman, Navarro, is stewing in prison after refusing to testify about the Jan. 6 insurrection and his plan to keep Congress from tallying Biden’s electoral college victory. —Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 31 Mar. 2024

But Kern is in Mayes' crosshairs as part of her investigation of 11 Republicans who pledged the state's electoral college votes to Donald Trump in 2020, though Arizonans voted for Democrat Joe Biden. —Stacey Barchenger, The Arizona Republic, 27 Mar. 2024

Eastman then authored memos describing a plan, under which Pence would block the certification of Biden's electoral college victory in Congress. —Tom Dreisbach, NPR, 27 Mar. 2024

Ralph Nader returned the favor in 2000, taking enough votes away from Democrat Al Gore that Bush's son won the electoral college and became president. —Suhail Bhat, USA TODAY, 26 Mar. 2024

In the end, Bush beat Gore in one of the closest elections in American history, winning by just one electoral college vote and losing the popular vote. —Margie Cullen, USA TODAY, 28 Feb. 2024

In 2020, Biden coasted into office by beating Trump 306-232 in the electoral college. —Thomas Knapp, Orange County Register, 22 Feb. 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.