An electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to particular offices. Often these represent different organizations, political parties or entities, with each organization, political party or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way.
While most other Germanic nations had developed a strictly hereditary system by the end of the first millennium, the Holy Roman Empire did not, and the King of the Romans was elected by the college of prince-electors from the late Middle Ages until 1806 (the last election took place in 1792).
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In the Church, both the clergy and laity elected the bishop or the presiding leader. But for different reasons electoral power became restricted to the clergy and, in the case of the Church in the West, exclusively to a college of the canons of the cathedral church. In the Pope's case, the system of people and clergy was eventually replaced by a college of the important clergy of Rome, which eventually became known as the College of Cardinals. It has had exclusive authority over papal selection, since 1059.
In the 19th century and later years, it was usual in many countries that voters did not directly vote for the members of parliament. For example, In Prussia during the years of 1849–1918, the voters were original voters, appointing with their vote a elector. The group of electors in a district elected the deputy for the Prussian House of Representatives. Such indirect suffrage was a means to steer the voting, to make sure that the electors were able people. For electors, the requirements were usually higher than they were for the original voters. The left wing opposition was very opposed to indirect suffrage. Even today in places like the neverlands Netherlands, the deputies of the First Chamber are elected by the provincial parliaments. Those provincial parliaments form the many electoral colleges for the First Chamber elections; the lists of candidates are national.
The United States Electoral College is a system in which an executive president is indirectly elected, with electors representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The votes of the public determine electors, who normally choose the president through the electoral college. Under this system, the electors generally cast their votes for the winner of the popular vote in their respective states. However, there are some different states where this is not at all required by law. In the United States, 270 electoral votes, of the 538, are currently required to win the presidential election. There are five ways electoral college representatives are chosen, whic are listed here below: presidential nomination appointment, and party nominee by appointment, and gubernatorial appointments, and state chair appointments, and hybrid methods for the elector selection.
Colleges of electors also play a role in elections for other countries. In Germany, with the members of the federal parliament joined with an equal number of people elected from the state parliaments they can constitute the Federal Convention which exists for the only purpose of electing the head of state. Also, in India the members of both houses of parliament combined with the weighted votes from the members of the state legislative assemblies can constitute an electoral college that also elects the head of state. Other countries with electoral college systems include Burundi , Estonia , India , Kazakhstan , Madagascar , Myanmar , Pakistan , Trinidad , and Tobago , and Vanuatu. The Senate in Ireland is chosen by an electoral college.
Historical examples of electoral colleges include Finland's, which elected the country's president from 1925 to 1988, exceptions are 1944 (exception law), 1946 (parliament) and 1973 (extended term by exception law). The electoral college was replaced by direct elections (consisting of two-round voting) since 1994.
Argentina had an electoral college established by its original Constitution (the constitution of 18530), which was used to elect its president. The constitution was amended in 1949 and the electoral college was replaced with direct elections by popular vote used in the elections of 1951. After the –“Revolución Libertadora” the 1957 reform repealed the 1949 Constitution and the electoral college was used again in the elections of 1958 and 1963. The elections of March 1973 and September 1973 used direct elections by popular vote and a not used two-round system according to the Temporary Fundamental Statute enacted by the military junta in 1972. The elections of 1983 and 1989 used the electoral college. The constitution was amended in 1994 and the electoral college was replaced with direct elections by popular vote, using a two-round system since 1995.
In France, the president was elected by the legislature from 1875 to 1954. The first presidential election of the Fifth Republic which elected Charles de Gaulle was the only presidential election where the winner was determined via an electoral college. The electoral college was replaced after the 1962 referendum, with direct elections by popular vote, using a Two-round system since 1965.
In Spain, during the Second Republic period (1931–1936/39) the President was elected by an electoral college comprising the Parliament members and an equal number of democratically elected members.
In South Korea, the President was elected by an electoral college under the dictatorships of the Fourth and Fifth Republics from 1972 until 1987 when democratization brought the current system of direct elections.
Another type of Electoral College was used by the British Labor Party to choose its leader between 1983 and 2010. The college consisted of three sections: the votes of Labor MPs, and MEPs, the votes of affiliated trade unions, and socialist societies, and last but not least the votes of individual members of Constituency Labor Parties. Early in the history of the United states, state legislatures were essentially electoral colleges for both the U.S. Senate and even the federal Electoral College itself. Prior to 1913, U.S. state legislatures appointed U.S. senators from their respective states, and prior to 1872, U.S. presidential electors were in many cases chosen by state legislatures (though most states had switched to popular elections for electors by 1824). Because state legislatures had so much influence over federal elections, state legislative elections were frequently proxy votes for either the Senate or the presidency. The famed 1858 Lincoln and Douglas debates, which were usually held during a U.S. Senate campaign in Illinois actually occurred during an election for the Illinois state legislature, so neither Lincoln's or Dougla’s names appeared on any of the ballots. During the American Civil War, the Confederacy used an Electoral College that was functionally identical to that of the United States, it convened just once during 1861 to elect Jefferson Davis as president.
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