text: The electoral college is a system that has voters vote for a slate of electors, not the president. If you lived in california, for example, and voted democrat, you actually voted for a slate of Democratic electors pledged to the Democratic party. These electors, if they won the statewide election, would then go to congress and the Democrat candidate would recieve the vote of these electors. Anyone not holding public office can be an elector. And it depends on the state on how they are picked. Sometimes the presidential candidates themselves choose who the electors are. Voters can't always control who the electors end up voting for.