A young lady told me the other day that she did not understand anything about the Electoral College and how it elected our President and Vice President. I offered to explain it to her. In 1978 I was a political science major and Student Body President at Morehouse College. My favorite political science professor and SGA Advisor was Dr. Rashid Abdul Holloway. I told the young lady that I would share with  her the Dr. Holloway version of how the Electoral College works. This is a brief excerpt from Dr. Rashid Abdul Holloway’s 1978 lecture that I shared with her. 

“Good morning class! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I certainly did. (laughter). Good morning Mr. Griffin.” “And how is our President today?” (laughter). Today I will explain to you the fundamentals of the Electoral College. I want you to learn this cold!!!!!!!!!! 

There are 538 persons in the Electoral College who formally determine who will serve as President and Vice President. The size of the Electoral College is equivalent to the size of Congress (435 Representatives and 100 Senators and an additional 3 electors given to the District of Columbia). These individuals are selected by each state. The states elect their electors when they vote for President and Vice President. It is important to remember that these states are allocated as many electors as they have Representatives and Senators in Congress. They in turn submit their electoral votes for those individual offices. The President and the Vice President are not selected by the popular vote. Mr. Griffin you remember that! It can be “tricky tricky tricky or at least it can seem that way when someone wins the Presidency without the popular vote which happened in 1876 and 1888. (This has occurred again since that 1978 Holloway lecture. It occurred in 2000 with the election of George W. Bush in 2000). 

Each elector casts an individual vote for President and Vice President. The winner receives at minimum 270 electoral votes for that office. If a Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate receives less that the 270 required votes then the choice is referred to the House of Representatives for the selection of the President and to the Senate for the selection of the Vice President. This procedure is set forth in the Twelfth Amendment of the United States Constitution. 

In the words of my dad, “If these gas prices get any higher I am going to buy me a horse!”