Third Party Elections
Election Years in which a third party candidate walked away with any amount of Electoral votes



1912

Candidate: Teddy Roosevelt

T. Roosevelt

Party: Progressive

Popular Vote: 4,119,207 (27.4%)

Electoral Votes: 88

States: Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, Washington, Pennsylvania, California (split)

*Roosevelt actually beat Democratic candidate William Howard Taft in the Electoral College;
Taft received only 8 votes

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1924

Candidate: Robert Marion LaFollette

Bob Lafollette

Party: Progressive

Popular Vote: 4,822,856 (16.6%)

Electoral Votes: 13

States: Wisconsin

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1948

Candidate: Strom Thurmond

Strom Thurmond

Party: Dixiecrat

Popular Vote: 1,176,125 (2.4%)

Electoral Votes: 39

          States: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee (split)

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1960

Candidate: Harry Flood Byrd

Byrd


Party: Democrat

Popular Vote: 116,248 (0.2%)

Electoral Votes: 15

States: Mississippi, Alabama (split), Oklahoma (split)

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1968

Candidate: George Corley Wallace

Wallace


Party: American Independent

Popular Vote: 9,446,167 (12.9%)

Electoral Votes: 46

       States: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina (split)

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1956, 1972, 1976, 1988

*In each of these elections, a candidate got a single (1) electoral vote:

Walter Burgwyn Jones in 1956

John Hospers in 1972

Ronald Reagan in 1976

Lloyd Millard Bentsen, Jr. in 1988


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Controversial Elections

Electoral College Table of Contents


 
October 26th 2008
It's time to get rid of Electoral College

Editorial in the Houston Chronicle calls for the direct election of the President and asks readers to support the National Popular Vote initiative.

October 26th 2008
Make all votes count

Disenchanted by the recent lack of attention paid to Michigan, Detroit Free Press editor Ron Dzwonkowski argues for the National Popular Vote interstate compact to make Michigan voters relevant throughout every campaign.

October 25th 2008
Blue State Blues

New York Times op-ed columnist Gail Collins addresses the sense of neglect felt by voters in "spectator" states as a result of the Electoral College and the winner-take-all method of allocating states' electors.

October 23rd 2008
The Electoral College And Other Hazards
National Journal

Interview with FairVote Executive Director Rob Richie on prospects for electoral reform.

October 17th 2008
October 17th Update on Presidential Visits and Spending

FairVote's press release shows that in the "Swing States of America," candidates ignore a majority of states and follow voting patterns of 2004 Presidential Election.

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