For 10-year-old Kendall Dillon and many 4th graders like her, the electoral college was one of the more boring topics to discuss in the weeks leading up to the election.
So when the chance arose to write and submit a 200-word essay to Time Kids Magazine on the pros and cons of the system by which the President of the United States is elected, Dillon originally declined.
"She came home and told me that (her teacher) Mrs. Zimmerman had challenged them to submit a piece to Times Kids and said she wasn't going to, because writing about the electoral college would be boring," said her mother, Anne Dillon. "I let it go because it wasn't mandatory, and if she didn't want to do it, I'm not going to make her."
As the days went on, however, Kendall changed her mind.
"I figured hey, it was an opportunity and it wasn't going to come around every day," said Dillon.
Dillon's piece, in which she challenges the electoral college, will be published in the magazine's Nov. 16 issue, along with Dillon's photo and an essay from a different student with an opposing viewpoint.
Rather than a true popular vote, the electoral college tallies votes by state, with each state submitting a number of electoral votes proportionate to its overall population to the candidate with the most votes - Missouri has 10 votes, for example. It is by these electoral votes that the president and vice president are elected.