No the presidential electors, which make up the electoral college, and political party delegates are two entirely different things.
Presidential electors
The current system of choosing electors is called the "short ballot." In all states, voters choose among slates of candidates for elector; only a few states list on the ballot the names of the candidates for elector. In some states, if a voter wants to write in a candidate for President, the voter is also required to write-in the names of candidates for elector.
Of which there are only 538 members
The Electoral College consists of the electors appointed by each state who formally elect the President and Vice President of the United States. Since 1964, there have been 538 electors in each presidential election. Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution specifies how many electors each state is entitled to have and that each state's legislature decides how its electors are to be chosen. U.S. territories are not represented in the Electoral College. The Electoral College is an example of an indirect election, as opposed to a direct election by United States citizens (such as for members of the United States House of Representatives).
Political party delegates
A delegate is a person who speaks or acts on behalf of an organization (e.g., a government, a charity, an NGO, or a trade union) at a meeting or conference between organizations of the same level
Of which for the democratic party there are 4,047
Of the 4,047 total Democratic delegates, 794 are superdelegates, which are usually Democratic members of Congress, governors, former Presidents, and other party leaders. They are not required to indicate preference for a candidate.
And for the republican party there are 2,286
Of the total 2,380 Republican delegates (2,286 in 2012), 1,719 are pledged delegates
I believe the u.s. citizens are supposed to be taught about this as required learning during their secondary academic curriculum or they are not graduated with a secondary academic diploma }-----> ( high school diploma ) <-----{.
However, the only u.s. citizens that learn this are those who study the political science in their post-secondary academics.
The truth is the u.s. citizens are lead to believe, under false pretense, they have a say in who is to be their president.
edit on 12-5-2012 by emberscott because: colors are colorful things
