What is the electorial college?

Question

in AP US history my teacher talks about something called the electorial college, and i have no clue wat it is. all i know is that it has to do with the election of a president, can anyone help?

Answer 1

Read Article II Section 1 and the 12th Amendment.

Basically -- it's an intermediary layer that takes the votes cast at the state level for presidential candidates and converts them to 'electoral votes' -- with the actual winner being determined by the electoral vote outcome -- independent of the popular vote results.

Answer 2

A Southern Strategy Joke