|
"Faithless
Electors"
"Faithless
Electors" are members of the Electoral College who, for
whatever reason, do not vote for their party's designated candidate.
Since
the founding of the Electoral College, there have been 156 faithless
Electors. 71
of these votes were changed because the original candidate died
before the day on which the Electoral College cast their votes.
Three of the votes were not cast at all as three Electors
chose to abstain from casting their Electoral vote for any
candidate. The other 82
Electoral votes were changed on the personal initiative of the
Elector.
Sometimes Electors change their votes in large
groups, such as when 23 Virginia Electors acted together in 1836.
Many times, however, these Electors stood alone in their decision.
As of the 2000 election, no Elector has changed the outcome
of an election by voting against their party�s designated
candidate.
Despite
these 156 faithless votes, and a Supreme Court ruling allowing
states to empower political parties to require formal pledges from
Presidential Electors (Ray v Blair, 343 US 214), 21 states still do
not require their members of the Electoral College to vote for their
party's designated candidate.
The 24
states that do have requirements issue a small variety of rarely
enforced punishments for faithless Electors, including fines and
misdemeanors.
The
names, dates, and stories of these 156 votes are listed below:
2000
- Barbara Lett-Simmons (Democrat, District of Columbia)
1988
- Margaret Leach (Democrat, West Virginia)
1976
- Mike Padden (Republican, Washington)
1972
- Roger L. MacBride (Republican, Virginia)
1968
- Dr. Lloyd W. Bailey (Republican, North Carolina)
1960
- Henry D. Irwin (Republican, Oklahoma)
1956
- W.F. Turner (Democrat, Alabama)
1948
- Preston Parks (Democrat, Tennessee)
1912
- Eight Republican Electors
1896
- Four Democratic Electors
1872
- Sixty-Three Democratic Electors
1836
- Twenty-Three Democratic Electors (Virginia)
1832
- Thirty-Two Democratic Electors (PA, MD)
1828
- Seven Democratic Electors (Georgia)
1820
- William Plummer, Sr. (Democratic-Republican, NH)
1812
- Three Federalist Electors
1808
- Six Democratic-Republican Electors
1796
- Samuel Miles (Federalist, Pennsylvania)
2000 - Barbara Lett-Simmons (Democrat, District of Columbia)
In the most recent act of Elector abstention, Barbara Lett-Simmons, a Democratic Elector from the District of Columbia, did not cast her vote for Al Gore as expected. Her abstention was meant to protest the lack of Congressional representation for Washington, DC.
Lett-Simmons was the first Elector to abstain from voting since 1832. Her abstention did not affect the outcome of the election.
List
Back to Top
1988
- Margaret Leach (Democrat, West Virginia)
Margaret
Leach, a nurse from Huntington, WV, was pledged to the Democratic
Party. During the Electoral College process, Leach learned that
members of the Electoral College were not required to vote for the
candidates they were pledged to.
Upon
learning this, she decided to draw more attention to the situation
by switching her votes for President and Vice President.
She cast her Presidential vote for Lloyd Bentsen, the
Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, and cast her Vice
Presidential vote for Michael Dukakis, the Democratic Presidential
candidate.
Leach
tried to convince other Electors to join her, but hers remained the
only unexpected vote.
List
Back
to Top
1976 - Mike Padden (Republican,
Washington)
Mike
Padden, a lawyer from Spokane, WA, was pledged to vote for Gerald
Ford, the 1976 Republican candidate for President.
Instead, for President, Padden
voted for Ronald Reagan, who had run in the Republican primary and
lost, and for Vice President he voted for Robert Dole, Gerald
Ford's running mate.
List
Back
to Top
1972
- Roger L. MacBride (Republican, Virginia)
Roger
L. MacBride was pledged to the Republican party of Virginia.
However, in the 1972 election, MacBride did not cast his
Electoral vote for Richard Nixon, the Republican Presidential
candidate, but for John Hospers, the Libertarian Presidential
candidate.
He
also cast his Vice Presidential vote for Toni Nathan, the
Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate, (making Nathan the first
woman to receive an Electoral vote).
MacBride
ran as the Libertarian candidate for President in the next election
but did not receive any Electoral votes of his own.
List
Back
to Top
1968
- Dr. Lloyd W. Bailey (Republican, North Carolina)
Dr.
Lloyd W. Bailey was an Elector for the Republican Party of North
Carolina.
He
did not vote for Richard Nixon however, but for George Wallace, the
Presidential candidate for the American Independence Party. (Wallace
received a total of 46 Electoral votes).
Bailey
claimed that Nixon had done some things that displeased him (like
appointing Henry Kissinger and Daniel Moynihan) and so he
decided not to vote for him.
He
also protested that he had never signed a pledge promising to vote
for any particular candidate and that his vote for Wallace was
justified because Wallace was the winner in Bailey�s district.
Bailey later
admitted at a Senate hearing that he would have voted for
Richard Nixon if his vote would have altered the outcome of the
election.
List
Back
to Top
1960
- Henry D. Irwin (Republican, Oklahoma)
Henry
D. Irwin, a Republican Elector from Oklahoma, was originally pledged
to Richard Nixon. Irwin later admitted in an interview with CBS that
he "could not stomach" Nixon.
He
tried to convince the Democratic and Republican Electors to reject
both Kennedy and Nixon as Presidential candidates. His choice
replacement was a combination of two conservative Senators: Harry F.
Byrd of Virginia and Barry Goldwater of Arizona.
In fact, he sent out telegrams to the other Electors.
One
telegram sent to the 218 Republican Electors is copied below:
"I
am Oklahoma Republican elector. The Republican electors cannot deny
the election to Kennedy. Sufficient conservative Democratic electors
available to deny labor Socialist nominee. Would you consider Byrd
President, Goldwater Vice President, or wire any acceptable
substitute. All replies strict confidence."
Irwin
received several replies (about 40) from other Electors but he was
the only one to vote against his designated party. He cast his
Electoral votes for Byrd and Goldwater.
In
the same election 14 unpledged Electors (eight from Mississippi and six
from Alabama) cast their Presidential votes for Harry Byrd.
All 14 also voted for Senator Strom Thurmond of South
Carolina as Vice President.
List
Back
to Top
1956
- W.F. Turner (Democrat, Alabama)
W.F.
Turner, a Democratic Elector from Alabama, voted for Walter Burgwyn
Jones instead of the Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson.
Jones
was formerly a circuit court judge from Turner�s hometown.
1948
- Preston Parks (Democrat, Tennessee)
Preston
Parks was a member of Tennessee�s Democratic Party.
He
was appointed as one of their state Electors early in the election
year. Before the election, members of the Democratic Party split off
and formed the States Rights party.
Parks
vowed before the election to vote for Senator Strom Thurmond, the
States Rights Party candidate instead of Harry Truman. Another
Elector also made the same pledge but ended up voting for Truman.
Thurmond,
who gathered less than 3% of the popular vote, received a total of
39 Electoral votes. These votes came from Louisiana, Alabama,
Mississippi, and South Carolina.
List
Back
to Top
1912
- Eight Republican Electors
In
1912, Republican Vice Presidential candidate James S. Sherman died
before the election. He was President William Howard Taft's Vice
President and they were both running for re-election.
Eight Republican
Electors had pledged their votes to him but voted for Nicholas
Murray Butler instead.
List
Back
to Top
1896
- Four People's Party Electors
In
1896, two parties, the Democratic Party and the People�s Party,
ran William Jennings Bryan as their Presidential candidate.
The
two parties, though they shared a Presidential candidate, nominated
different candidates for Vice President. The Democratic Party
nominated Arthur Sewall and the People�s Party nominated Thomas
Watson.
The
People�s Party won 31 Electoral votes but four of those Electors
voted with the Democratic ticket, supporting Bryan as President and
Sewall as Vice President.
List
Back
to Top
1872
- Sixty-Three Democratic Electors
The
Democratic Party nominated Horace Greeley for President in 1872.
However,
Greeley died after the November election but before the Electoral
College had cast their votes. 63 of the 66 Democratic Electors
refused to give their votes to a deceased candidate.
17
of these 63 Electors abstained from voting. The other 43 Electors
split their votes among three other Democratic candidates.
List
Back
to Top
1836
- Twenty-Three Democratic Electors (Virginia)
The
Democratic Party nominated Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky as their
Vice Presidential candidate.
The
23 Electors from Virginia refused to support Johnson with their
votes upon learning of the allegation that he had lived with an
African-American woman.
With
these 23 votes missing, there was no majority in the Electoral
College and the decision was deferred to the Senate.
In
the end, the Senate still voted for Johnson as the Vice President.
List
Back
to Top
1832
- Thirty-Two Electors (PA, MD)
Two
National Republican Party Electors from the state of Maryland
refused to vote for Presidential candidate Henry Clay, not voting
against Clay but simply abstaining completely.
In
the same year, all 30 Electors from Pennsylvania refused to support
the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, Martin Van Buren, voting
instead for William Wilkins.
Despite
the loss of the 30 votes from Pennsylvania, Martin Van Buren was
elected as the Vice President.
Andrew
Jackson was elected as the President, receiving over 75% of the
Electoral votes.
List
Back
to Top
1828
- Seven Democratic Electors (Georgia)
In
this election, seven out of the nine Electors from Georgia refused
to vote for Vice Presidential candidate John Calhoun.
All seven cast their Vice Presidential votes for William
Smith instead. Andrew
Jackson won his re-election, with John Calhoun as his Vice
President.
List
Back
to Top
1820
- William Plummer, Sr. (Democratic-Republican, New Hampshire)
William
Plummer, Sr. was pledged to vote for Democratic-Republican candidate
James Monroe. Instead, he cast his vote for John Quincy Adams, also
of the Democratic-Republican Party, although Adams was not a
candidate in the 1820 election.
Supposedly,
Plummer did not feel that the Electoral College should unanimously
elect any President other than George Washington.
Other
than three Electors who did not cast votes, Plummer�s vote for
Adams was the only vote not cast for Monroe.
List
Back
to Top
1812
- Three Federalist Electors
Three
Electors of the Federalist Party refused to cast their votes for
Federalist Vice Presidential candidate Jared Ingersoll.
All
three voted instead for Elbridge Gerry, the Vice Presidential
candidate for the Democratic-Republican Party.
List
Back
to Top
1808
- Six Democratic-Republican Electors
Six
Electors from the Democratic-Republican Party refused to support
James Madison, their party�s candidate for President.
Instead,
all three voted for George Clinton, the Democratic-Republican
Party�s Vice Presidential candidate, for President.
List
Back
to Top
1796 - Samuel Miles (Federalist, Pennsylvania)
Samuel
Miles, an Elector from Pennsylvania, was the first Elector to vote
for a candidate other than the one he was pledged to.
Miles
did not vote for Federalist candidate John Adams, but for Thomas
Jefferson, the Democratic-Republican candidate for President.
Jefferson
lost the Electoral College by only three votes. Miles' vote would not
have given the election to Jefferson, but would have further widened
the margin
to five votes.
The
excerpt below is taken from a letter published in the Gazette of
the United States, written by an angry voter in Pennsylvania:
"What, do I choose Samuel Miles to determine for
me whether John Adams or Thomas Jefferson shall be President? No! I
choose him to act, not to think."
State that bind
electors
Electoral College Table of
Contents |
