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In the
United States Electoral College The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia a ...
, a faithless elector is an elector who does not vote for the candidates for U.S. President and U.S. Vice President for whom the elector had pledged to vote, and instead votes for another person for one or both offices or abstains from voting. As part of
United States presidential election The election of the president and the vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty U.S. states or in Washington, D.C., cast ballots not dir ...
s, each
state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
selects the method by which its electors are to be selected, which in modern times has been based on a popular vote in most states, and generally requires its electors to have pledged to vote for the candidates of their party if appointed. A pledged elector is only considered a faithless elector by breaking their pledge; unpledged electors have no pledge to break. The consequences of an elector voting in a way inconsistent with their pledge vary from state to state. Electors are typically chosen and
nominated A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * ...
by a political party or the party's
presidential nominee In United States politics and government, the term presidential nominee has two different meanings: # A candidate for president of the United States who has been selected by the delegates of a political party at the party's national convention ( ...
, and are usually party members with a reputation for high loyalty to the party and its chosen candidate. Thus, a faithless elector runs the risk of party censure and political retaliation from their party, as well as potential legal penalties in some states. Candidates for electors are nominated by state political parties in the months prior to Election Day. In some states, such as Indiana, the electors are nominated in
primaries Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...
, the same way other candidates are nominated. In other states, such as Oklahoma,
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, and
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
, electors are nominated in party conventions. In
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, the campaign committee of each candidate names their candidates for elector (an attempt to discourage faithless electors). In some states, high-ranking and/or well-known state officials up to and including
governors A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
often serve as electors whenever possible (the Constitution prohibits federal officials from acting as electors, but does not restrict state officials from doing so). The parties have generally been successful in keeping their electors faithful, leaving out the rare cases in which a candidate died before the elector was able to cast a vote. As of the 2020 election, there have been a total of 165 instances of faithlessness, 90 were for president and 75 were for vice president. They have never swung an election, and nearly all have voted for third party candidates or non-candidates, as opposed to switching their support to a major opposing candidate. There were 63 faithless electors in
1872 Events January–March * January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years. * February 2 – The government of the United Kingdom buys a number of forts on ...
when Horace Greeley died between Election Day and when the Electoral College convened, but Ulysses S. Grant had already clinched enough to win reelection. During the 1836 election, Virginia's entire 23-man electoral delegation faithlessly abstained from voting for victorious Democratic vice presidential nominee Richard M. Johnson. The loss of Virginia's support caused Johnson to fall one electoral vote short of a majority, causing the vice-presidential race to be thrown into the
U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...
under a
contingent election In the United States, a contingent election is used to elect the president or vice president if no candidate receives a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed. A presidential contingent election is decided by a special vote of th ...
. The presidential election itself was not in dispute because Virginia's electors voted for Democratic presidential nominee
Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he ...
as pledged. The Senate elected Johnson as vice president anyway after a
party-line vote A party-line vote in a deliberative assembly (such as a constituent assembly, parliament, or legislature) is a vote in which a substantial majority of members of a political party vote the same way (usually in opposition to the other political ...
. The United States Constitution does not specify a notion of ''pledging''; no federal law or constitutional statute binds an elector's vote to anything. All pledging laws originate at the state level; the
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
upheld these state laws in its 1952 ruling '' Ray v. Blair''. In 2020, the Supreme Court also ruled in '' Chiafalo v. Washington'' that states are free to enforce laws that bind electors to voting for the winner of the popular vote in their state.


Faithless elector laws

, 33 states and the
District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
have laws that require electors to vote for the candidates for whom they pledged to vote, though in half of these jurisdictions there is no enforcement mechanism. In 14 states, votes contrary to the pledge are voided and the respective electors are replaced, and in two of these states they may also be fined. Three other states impose a penalty on faithless electors but still count their votes as cast.
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
was the first state to void an elector's faithless vote, which occurred during the 2016 election. Minnesota also invoked this law for the first time in 2016 when an elector pledged to
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
attempted to vote for Bernie Sanders instead. Until 2008, Minnesota's electors cast secret ballots. Although the final count would reveal the occurrence of faithless votes, it was impossible to determine which electors were faithless. After an unknown elector was faithless in 2004, Minnesota amended its law to require public balloting of the electors' votes and invalidate any vote cast for someone other than the candidate to whom the elector was pledged.
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
became the first state to fine faithless electors after the 2016 election, in the wake of that state having four faithless elector votes. In 2019, the state changed its law for future elections, to void faithless votes and replace the respective electors instead of fining them. In
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
a faithless elector may face a fine or imprisonment for up to 3 years for casting a faithless vote.


Legal rulings


''Ray v. Blair''

The constitutionality of state ''pledge'' laws was confirmed by the
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
in 1952 in '' Ray v. Blair'''' Ray v. Blair'' in a 5–2 vote. The court ruled states have the right to require electors to pledge to vote for the candidate whom their party supports, and the right to remove potential electors who refuse to pledge prior to the election. The court also wrote: The ruling held only that requiring a pledge, not a vote, was constitutional and Justice
Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...
, joined by Justice Douglas, wrote in his dissent: In 2015, one legal scholar opined that "a state law that would thwart a federal elector’s discretion at an extraordinary time when it reasonably must be exercised would clearly violate Article II and the Twelfth Amendment".


''Chiafalo v. Washington'' and ''Colorado Department of State v. Baca''

After the 2016 election, electors who attempted to switch their votes in Washington and Colorado were subjected to enforcement of their state's faithless elector laws. The four faithless electors from Washington were each fined $1,000 for breaking their pledge. The electors received legal assistance from the non-profit advocacy group
Equal Citizens Equal Citizens is an American non-profit, non-partisan group that is "dedicated to reforms that will achieve citizen equality". It was founded in late 2016 by Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig to continue the effort to bring about the set of ...
founded by
Lawrence Lessig Lester Lawrence Lessig III (born June 3, 1961) is an American academic, attorney, and political activist. He is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the former director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard ...
. The Colorado case, ''Baca v. Colorado Department of State'', was initially dismissed by the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. On appeal, the 10th Circuit ruled in August 2019 that Colorado's faithless elector law is unconstitutional. Specifically, the opinion held that electors have a constitutional right to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice and are not bound by any prior pledges they may have made. The opinion said the act of voting for president in the electoral college is a federal function not subject to state law and state laws requiring electors to vote only for the candidates they pledged are unconstitutional and unenforceable. On October 16, 2019, Colorado appealed the 10th Circuit's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. The 10th Circuit's decision conflicted with an earlier May 2019 decision by the
Washington Supreme Court The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington. The court is composed of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Members of the court are elected to six-year terms. Justices must retir ...
''In re Guerra'', in which three electors who had $1000 fines imposed on them for violating their pledges appealed the fines, which were upheld. In contrast to the Colorado case, the Washington court held that presidential electors are state officials under the control of state law and can be criminally punished by a state if they do not vote as they pledged. On October 7, 2019, these electors also appealed their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. On July 6, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in both ''Chiafalo v. Washington'' and ''Colorado Department of State v. Baca'' that states ''may'' enforce laws to punish faithless electors.


History

Over 58 elections, 165 electors have not cast their votes for
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
or
vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...
as prescribed by the legislature of the state they represented. Of those: * 71 electors changed their votes because the candidate to whom they were pledged died before the electoral ballot (in
1872 Events January–March * January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years. * February 2 – The government of the United Kingdom buys a number of forts on ...
and 1912). * 1 elector chose to abstain from voting for any candidate (in
2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
). * 93 were changed typically by the elector's personal preference, although there have been some instances where the change may have been caused by an honest mistake. Usually, faithless electors act alone, although on occasion a faithless elector has attempted to induce other electors to change their votes in concert, usually with little if any success. One exception was the 1836 election, in which all 23 Virginia electors acted together, altering the outcome of the electoral college vote but failing to change the outcome of the overall election. The Democratic ticket won states with 170 of the 294 electoral votes, but the 23 Virginia electors abstained in the vote for vice president, meaning the Democratic nominee, Richard M. Johnson, received 147 votes or exactly half of the electoral college (one short of being elected). Johnson was subsequently elected vice president by the
U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...
.


List of faithless electors

The following is a list of all faithless electors. The number preceding each entry is the number of faithless electors in the given year's election.


1788 to 1800: Before the 12th Amendment

3 – 1788-89 election: three electors, two from Maryland and one from Virginia, did not vote 3 – 1792 election: three electors, two from Maryland and one from Vermont, did not vote 19 – 1796 election:
Samuel Miles Samuel Miles (March 11, 1740 – December 29, 1805) was an American military officer and politician, as well as an influential businessman and politician, active in Pennsylvania before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. Milita ...
, an elector from Pennsylvania, was pledged to vote for Federalist presidential candidate
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...
, but voted for Democratic-Republican candidate Thomas Jefferson. He cast his other vote as pledged for Thomas Pinckney; there was no provision at the time for specifying president or vice president. An additional 18 electors voted for Adams as pledged, but refused to vote for Pinckney.Chernow, Ron. ''Alexander Hamilton''. New York: Penguin, 2004. p. 514. This was an attempt to foil Alexander Hamilton's rumored plan to elect Pinckney as president, and this resulted in the unintended outcome that Adams' opponent, Jefferson, was elected vice president instead of Adams' running mate, Pinckney. This was the only time in U.S. history that the president and vice president have been from different parties, except for 1864 (although in that year, while the president and vice president were from different parties, they ran on one ticket from the same third party), and the only time the winners were from different tickets. The 1800 election resulted in a deadlock, as there were no faithless Democratic-Republican electors: they all voted for both Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, forcing the tied decision to the House of Representatives. The Federalist Party would have avoided this problem had they won by pre-arranging for one of their electors from Rhode Island to not vote for their vice-presidential candidate Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, instead voting for
John Jay John Jay (December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, patriot, diplomat, abolitionist, signatory of the Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served as the second governor of New York and the f ...
. The Twelfth Amendment was ratified in 1804 changing the election procedure so that instead of casting two votes of the same type, electors would make an explicit choice for president and vice president.


1804 to 1840

6 – 1808 election: Six electors from New York were pledged to vote for Democratic-Republican
James Madison James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for h ...
for president and former New York governor George Clinton for vice president. Instead, they voted for Clinton for president, with three voting for Madison for vice president and the other three voting for
James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...
for vice president. 3 – 1812 election: Three electors pledged to vote for Federalist vice-presidential candidate
Jared Ingersoll Jared Ingersoll (October 24, 1749 – October 31, 1822) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, and statesman from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and a signer of the United States Constitution. He se ...
instead voted for Elbridge Gerry. 1 – 1820 election:
William Plumer William Plumer (June 25, 1759December 22, 1850) was an American lawyer, Baptist lay preacher, and politician from Epping, New Hampshire. He is most notable for his service as a Federalist in the United States Senate (1802–1807), and the sevent ...
was pledged to vote for Democratic-Republican presidential candidate
James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...
, who was not contested for re-election, but he instead cast his vote for
John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams (; July 11, 1767 – February 23, 1848) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, and diarist who served as the sixth president of the United States, from 1825 to 1829. He previously served as the eighth United States ...
, who was not a candidate in the election. Some historians contend Plumer wanted George Washington to be the only unanimous selection, or that he wanted to draw attention to his friend Adams as a potential candidate. These claims are disputed. Plumer also cast his vice-presidential vote for Richard Rush, not Daniel D. Tompkins as pledged. 7 – 1828 election: Seven of the nine electors from Georgia refused to vote for vice-presidential candidate John C. Calhoun; they instead cast their vice-presidential votes for William Smith. 30 – 1832 election: All 30 electors from Pennsylvania refused to vote for the Democratic vice-presidential candidate,
Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he ...
, voting instead for William Wilkins. 23 – 1836 election: The 23 electors from Virginia were pledged to vote for Democratic candidates
Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he ...
for president and Richard M. Johnson for vice president. However, they refused to vote for Johnson because of his open liaison with a slave mistress and voted instead for Senator William Smith of South Carolina, which left Johnson with 147 electoral votes, one short of a majority. Johnson was subsequently elected vice president after a
contingent election In the United States, a contingent election is used to elect the president or vice president if no candidate receives a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed. A presidential contingent election is decided by a special vote of th ...
in the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. 1 – 1840 election: One elector from
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, Arthur Smith of
Isle of Wight County Isle of Wight County is a county located in the Hampton Roads region of the U.S. state of Virginia. It was named after the Isle of Wight, England, south of the Solent, from where many of its early colonists had come. As of the 2020 census, th ...
, was pledged to vote for Democratic candidates
Martin Van Buren Martin Van Buren ( ; nl, Maarten van Buren; ; December 5, 1782 – July 24, 1862) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. A primary founder of the Democratic Party, he ...
for president ; however, he voted for
James K. Polk James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He previously was the 13th speaker of the House of Representatives (1835–1839) and ninth governor of Tennessee (183 ...
for vice president.


1864 to 1912

1 – 1864 election: A Nevada elector abstained from casting any ballots. 63 – 1872 election: Horace Greeley, the Liberal Republican/Democrat nominee, died on November 29 shortly before the Electoral College vote in December. Three electors voted for the deceased Greeley as pledged, while the other 63 electors pledged to Greeley voted for other persons, with 18 of them casting their presidential votes for Greeley's running mate,
Benjamin Gratz Brown Benjamin Gratz Brown (May 28, 1826December 13, 1885) was an American politician. He was a U.S. Senator, the 20th Governor of Missouri, and the Liberal Republican and Democratic Party vice presidential candidate in the presidential election of ...
, and the remaining 45 scattering their presidential votes among three non-candidates. The three posthumous presidential votes cast for Greeley were rejected by Congress. 1 – 1892 election: An elector from Oregon pledged to vote for
Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...
voted for the third-party Populist candidate James B. Weaver. 27 – 1896 election: The Democratic Party and the People's Party both ran
William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator and politician. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running ...
as their presidential candidate, but ran different candidates for vice president: the Democratic Party nominated
Arthur Sewall Arthur Sewall (November 25, 1835 – September 5, 1900) was an American shipbuilder from Maine, best known as the Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1896, running mate to William Jennings Bryan. From 1888 to 1896 he se ...
and the People’s Party nominated
Thomas E. Watson Thomas Edward Watson (September 5, 1856 – September 26, 1922) was an American politician, attorney, newspaper editor and writer from Georgia. In the 1890s Watson championed poor farmers as a leader of the Populist Party, articulating an a ...
. Although the Populist ticket did not win the popular vote in any state, 27 Democratic electors cast their vice-presidential vote for Watson instead of Sewall. 8 – 1912 election: the
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
vice-presidential candidate, James S. Sherman, died six days before the popular election. The Republicans had won only two states, Utah and Vermont, and
Nicholas M. Butler Nicholas Murray Butler () was an American philosopher, diplomat, and educator. Butler was president of Columbia University, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and the deceased J ...
was hastily designated to receive the eight electoral votes that were pledged to Sherman. All eight Republican electors accordingly voted for Butler for vice president.


1948 to 1988

1 – 1948 election: Tennessee Elector
Preston Parks Preston Parks was a faithless elector during 1948 United States presidential election. A member of Tennessee Democratic Party, Parks was chosen by his Party as elector for Democratic nominees - Harry S. Truman and Alben W. Barkley. He, however, ac ...
was a candidate to be an elector for both the Democratic Party candidate,
Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
, and the
States' Rights Democratic Party The States' Rights Democratic Party (whose members are often called the Dixiecrats) was a short-lived segregationist political party in the United States, active primarily in the South. It arose due to a Southern regional split in opposition t ...
candidate,
Strom Thurmond James Strom Thurmond Sr. (December 5, 1902June 26, 2003) was an American politician who represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 1954 to 2003. Prior to his 48 years as a senator, he served as the 103rd governor of South Caro ...
. Though the national Democratic Party won the election, Parks had actively campaigned for Thurmond and he voted for Thurmond and Fielding L. Wright. 1 – 1956 election: Alabama Elector W. F. Turner, pledged for Democrats Adlai Stevenson and
Estes Kefauver Carey Estes Kefauver (; July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1939 to 1949 and in the Senate from 1949 until his d ...
, cast his votes for Judge
Walter Burgwyn Jones Walter Burgwyn Jones (October 16, 1888 – August 1, 1963) was an American judge, legislator, and writer from Alabama. Political career Jones served in the Alabama House of Representatives, as a Democrat, from 1919 to 1920. He was then a ci ...
and
Herman Talmadge Herman Eugene Talmadge (August 9, 1913 – March 21, 2002) was an American politician who served as governor of Georgia in 1947 and from 1948 to 1955 and as a U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1957 to 1981. Talmadge, a Democrat, served during a tim ...
, the former
Governor of Georgia The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor also has a duty to enforce state laws, the power to either veto or approve bills passed by the Georgia Legisl ...
. 1 – 1960 election: Oklahoma Elector
Henry D. Irwin Henry D. Irwin (October 22, 1917 – September 3, 1988) was a Republican presidential elector (from Oklahoma) for the 1960 U.S. presidential election who became a "faithless elector" when he declined to vote as pledged. 1960 presidential election ...
, pledged for Republicans
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
and
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (July 5, 1902 – February 27, 1985) was an American diplomat and Republican United States senator from Massachusetts in both Senate seats in non-consecutive terms of service and a United States ambassador. He was considered ...
, contacted the other 219 Republican electors to convince them to cast presidential electoral votes for Democratic non-candidate
Harry F. Byrd Harry Flood Byrd Sr. (June 10, 1887 – October 20, 1966) was an American newspaper publisher, politician, and leader of the Democratic Party in Virginia for four decades as head of a political faction that became known as the Byrd Organization. ...
and vice-presidential electoral votes for Republican
Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...
. Most replied they had a moral obligation to vote for Nixon, while Irwin voted for Byrd and Goldwater. Fourteen unpledged electors (eight from Mississippi and six from Alabama) also voted for Byrd for president, but supported
Strom Thurmond James Strom Thurmond Sr. (December 5, 1902June 26, 2003) was an American politician who represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 1954 to 2003. Prior to his 48 years as a senator, he served as the 103rd governor of South Caro ...
for vice president – since they were not pledged to anyone, their action was not faithless. 1 – 1968 election: North Carolina Elector Lloyd W. Bailey, pledged for Republicans
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
and
Spiro Agnew Spiro Theodore Agnew (November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) was the 39th vice president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1973. He is the second vice president to resign the position, the other being John ...
, cast his votes for
American Independent Party The American Independent Party (AIP) is a far-right political party in the United States that was established in 1967. The AIP is best known for its nomination of former Democratic Governor George Wallace of Alabama, who carried five states in ...
candidates
George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist and ...
and
Curtis LeMay Curtis Emerson LeMay (November 15, 1906 – October 1, 1990) was an American Air Force general who implemented a controversial strategic bombing campaign in the Pacific theater of World War II. He later served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air ...
. Bailey later stated at a Senate hearing that he would have voted for Nixon and Agnew if his vote would have altered the outcome of the election. 1 – 1972 election: Virginia Elector
Roger MacBride Roger Lea MacBride (August 6, 1929 – March 5, 1995) was an American lawyer, political figure, writer, and television producer. He was the presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party in the 1976 election. MacBride became the first presidenti ...
, pledged for Republicans
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
and
Spiro Agnew Spiro Theodore Agnew (November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) was the 39th vice president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1973. He is the second vice president to resign the position, the other being John ...
, cast his electoral votes for
Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
candidates
John Hospers John Hospers (June 9, 1918 – June 12, 2011) was an American philosopher and political activist. Hospers was interested in Objectivism, and was once a friend of the philosopher Ayn Rand, though she later broke with him. In 1972, Hospers becam ...
and
Tonie Nathan Theodora Nathalia "Tonie" Nathan (February 9, 1923 – March 20, 2014) was an American radio producer, television producer, and political activist. She was the first woman to receive an electoral vote in a United States presidential election. Sh ...
. MacBride's vice-presidential vote for Nathan was the first electoral vote cast for a woman in U.S. history. 1 – 1976 election: Washington Elector
Mike Padden Michael John Padden (born November 13, 1946) is a lawyer and politician from Spokane Valley, Washington. He is a member of the Washington State Senate representing Washington's 4th Legislative District. Padden is well known as a "faithless elect ...
, pledged for Republicans
Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
and
Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Republican Leader of the Senate during the final 11 years of his te ...
, cast his presidential electoral vote for
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
, who had challenged Ford for the Republican nomination. He cast his vice presidential vote, as pledged, for Dole. 1 – 1988 election: West Virginia Elector
Margarette Leach Margarette Faye Riggins Leach (December 4, 1926 – December 23, 2007) was a United States Democratic politician from West Virginia, best known for being a faithless elector during the 1988 United States presidential election. She pledged to vo ...
, pledged for Democrats
Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis (; born November 3, 1933) is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history a ...
and
Lloyd Bentsen Lloyd Millard Bentsen Jr. (February 11, 1921 – May 23, 2006) was an American politician who was a four-term United States Senator (1971–1993) from Texas and the Democratic Party nominee for vice president in 1988 on the Michael Dukakis ti ...
, instead cast her votes for the candidates in the reverse of their positions on the national ticket as a form of protest against the winner-take-all custom of the Electoral College; her presidential vote went to Bentsen and her vice-presidential vote to Dukakis.


2000 and 2004

1 – 2000 election: Washington, D.C. Elector
Barbara Lett-Simmons Barbara Lett-Simmons (June 4, 1927 – December 22, 2012) was an American politician. She was an openly faithless elector in the 2000 presidential election when she refused to cast her votes in the Electoral College. Early life Lett-Simmons was ...
, pledged for Democrats
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
and
Joe Lieberman Joseph Isadore Lieberman (; born February 24, 1942) is an American politician, lobbyist, and attorney who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013. A former member of the Democratic Party (Uni ...
, cast no electoral votes as a protest of Washington D.C.'s lack of voting congressional representation. Lett-Simmons's electoral college abstention, the first since 1864, was intended to protest what Lett-Simmons referred to as the federal district's "colonial status". Lett-Simmons described her blank ballot as an act of
civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...
, not an act of a faithless elector; Lett-Simmons supported Gore and would have voted for Gore if she had thought he had a chance to win. 1 – 2004 election: An anonymous Minnesota elector, pledged for Democrats
John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...
and
John Edwards Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as a U.S. senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004 alongside John Kerry, losing to incumbents George ...
, cast their presidential vote for , rather than Kerry, presumably by accident. All of Minnesota's electors cast their vice presidential ballots for
John Edwards Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as a U.S. senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004 alongside John Kerry, losing to incumbents George ...
, including the elector who cast the anomalous presidential vote. Minnesota's electors cast secret ballots, so the identity of the faithless elector is not known. As a result of this incident, Minnesota statutes were amended to provide for public balloting of the electors' votes and invalidation of a vote cast for someone other than the candidate to whom the elector is pledged.


2016

10 – 2016 election: *In Washington, Democratic Party electors gave three presidential votes to
Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( ; April 5, 1937 – October 18, 2021) was an American politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army officer who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African ...
and one to
Faith Spotted Eagle Faith Spotted Eagle ( Dakota: or "Standing Stone"; born 1948) is an American activist and politician. She is a member of the Yankton Sioux Nation who attempted to block development of the Keystone XL pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline. ...
and these electors cast vice-presidential votes for
Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...
,
Maria Cantwell Maria Ellen Cantwell (; born October 13, 1958) is an American politician and former businesswoman serving as the junior United States senator from Washington since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the Washington ...
,
Susan Collins Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maine. A member of the Republican Party, she has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine's longest-serving member of Co ...
, and
Winona LaDuke Winona LaDuke (born August 18, 1959) is an American economist, environmentalist, writer and industrial hemp grower, known for her work on tribal land claims and preservation, as well as sustainable development. In 1996 and 2000, she ran for Vice ...
. *In Hawaii, Bernie Sanders received one presidential vote and Elizabeth Warren received one vice-presidential vote. *In Texas, Christopher Suprun voted for
John Kasich John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician, author, and television news host who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001 and as the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, Kasic ...
for president and another elector voted for
Ron Paul Ronald Ernest Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American author, activist, physician and retired politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1976 to 1977 and again from 1979 to 1985, as well ...
, giving each one presidential vote. Suprun also voted for
Carly Fiorina Cara Carleton "Carly" Fiorina ('' née'' Sneed; born September 6, 1954) is an American businesswoman and politician, known primarily for her tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HP). As chief executive officer of HP from 1999 to 2005, Fiorina wa ...
as vice president while the other elector voted for
Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th ...
as pledged. In addition, three other electors attempted to vote against their pledges but had their votes invalidated: *In Colorado, Kasich received one vote for president, which was invalidated, and the elector was replaced by one who cast a vote for
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
. *In Maine, a Democratic Party elector attempted to vote for Bernie Sanders for president but ultimately cast a vote for Clinton. *A
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to i ...
elector voted for Bernie Sanders for president and
Tulsi Gabbard Tulsi Gabbard (; born April 12, 1981) is an American politician, United States Army Reserve officer and political commentator who served as the U.S. representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021. Gabbard was the firs ...
for vice president, but these votes were invalidated and the elector was replaced by an alternate elector who then cast votes for Clinton and
Tim Kaine Timothy Michael Kaine (; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 38th lieutenant governor of Virgini ...
.


See also

*
Unpledged elector In United States presidential elections, an unpledged elector is a person nominated to stand as an elector but who has not pledged to support any particular presidential or vice presidential candidate, and is free to vote for any candidate when el ...
*
Indirect election An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office (direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the old ...


Notes


References


External links


List of Electors Bound by State Law and Pledges, as of November 2000
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Faithless Elector United States Electoral College