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Every four years, the United States holds a ritual called the Presidential Election. This ritual is based on Americans from every corner of the globe casting their ballot to choose the person they believe best able to lead our country.

What most people do not realize as they make their choice, is that they are not voting for who will be the President, but rather, their vote is to decide the political party that will choose their home state's representatives to the US Electoral College. These delegates, in turn, will participate in the actual election to decide who will become the next President of the United States.

The Electoral College was defined by our founding fathers in the US Constitution, Article II, Section 1. As originally written, each state was to elect a number of Electoral College representatives equal to their number of US Representatives and Senators. For example, the state of Kansas has two Senators and three Representatives, thus, Kansas would receive five electoral voters. As each state has two Senators and at least one US Representative; each state chooses a minimum of three electoral members.

Each state selects their Electoral College members according to a process defined by that state's legislature. At present, nearly every state awards the selection of their electoral members to the party of the candidate that receives the highest number of votes in the general election. Thus, in Kansas, the selection of the five electoral members goes to the party whose candidate receives the highest number of votes, even if that candidate fails to receive a majority of all votes cast.

One little known fact about the Presidential election process is that the President is not actually chosen on Election Day. Even though we avidly watch television on the election night, waiting for the announcement of who will be our next President, the way in which the Electoral College works could actually change the election outcome. Though this has never happened, in a close electoral election, it is possible that the candidate whose party garnered the majority of the Electoral College members could lose the election.

You must remember that the general elections select who the Electoral College members will be. The Electoral College members actually cast the vote to select the next president. When the electoral members gather to cast their ballot, what if one or two members vote for the opposing party? In a close election, those one or two votes could change the election

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