An elector can vote against the popular vote of their state. This is known as being a “faithless elector.” Historically, however, this has been rare and has never changed the outcome of a presidential election.

Who are the electors? They are chosen by the political parties in each state. They are often party loyalists, chosen to recognize their service.

Are there rules against it? Yes, many states have laws that require electors to vote for the candidate they are pledged to. The Supreme Court has upheld these laws, allowing states to penalize or replace faithless electors. As of 2024, 38 states and D.C. have such laws.

As of 2024, the following 12 states do not have any laws that bind electors to the popular vote winner or penalize them for being “faithless”:

• Arkansas
• Illinois
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Louisiana
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New York
• North Dakota
• Rhode Island
• Texas
• West Virginia

How often does it happen? It’s very infrequent. Out of over 23,000 electoral votes cast in U.S. history, only a small number have been faithless. The most significant number of faithless electors in a single election was in 1872, when a candidate died after the election but before the electors met.

Of course. While faithless electors have never changed the outcome of a presidential election, there have been numerous instances of them throughout U.S. history.

Here is a list of every faithless elector vote for a presidential candidate, broken down by election year.

Instances of Faithless Electors by Election

2016: This election had the most faithless electors in modern history.

Pledged to Hillary Clinton (Democrats):

In Washington, three electors voted for Colin Powell and one voted for Faith Spotted Eagle.

In Hawaii, one elector voted for Bernie Sanders.

An elector in Maine attempted to vote for Bernie Sanders, but was forced to change his vote to Clinton.

Electors in Minnesota and Colorado also attempted to vote for other candidates but were replaced.

Pledged to Donald Trump (Republicans):

In Texas, two electors defected. One voted for John Kasich and the other for Ron Paul.

2004: One Democratic elector from Minnesota, pledged to John Kerry, voted for John Edwards (Kerry’s running mate) for both president and vice president.

2000: One Democratic elector from the District of Columbia, Barbara Lett-Simmons, abstained from voting for Al Gore as a protest for D.C.’s lack of congressional representation.

1988: One Democratic elector from West Virginia, Margarette Leach, voted for Lloyd Bentsen (the vice-presidential candidate) for president and Michael Dukakis for vice president.

1976: One Republican elector from Washington, Mike Padden, voted for Ronald Reagan instead of Gerald Ford.

1972: One Republican elector from Virginia, Roger L. MacBride, voted for the Libertarian ticket of John Hospers and Tonie Nathan.

1968: One Republican elector from North Carolina, Lloyd W. Bailey, voted for George Wallace of the American Independent Party instead of Richard Nixon.

1960: One Republican elector from Oklahoma, Henry D. Irwin, voted for Virginia Senator Harry F. Byrd instead of Richard Nixon.

1956: One Democratic elector from Alabama, W. F. Turner, voted for a local judge, Walter B. Jones, instead of Adlai Stevenson.

1948: One Democratic elector from Tennessee, Preston Parks, voted for Strom Thurmond of the States’ Rights Democratic Party instead of Harry S. Truman.

1912: Eight Republican electors voted for Nicholas Murray Butler for vice president instead of James S. Sherman, who had died before the electoral vote. This was a case of a candidate’s death, not a political protest.

1896: Four People’s Party electors cast their vice-presidential votes for Thomas E. Watson instead of the Democratic nominee, Arthur Sewall.

1872: This is the most significant case in terms of numbers. Horace Greeley, the Democratic/Liberal Republican candidate, died after the general election but before the Electoral College voted. As a result, 63 of the 66 electors pledged to him cast their votes for other individuals.

1836: Twenty-three Democratic electors from Virginia refused to vote for Richard M. Johnson for vice president, who had been Martin Van Buren’s running mate.

1796: Samuel Miles, a Federalist elector from Pennsylvania, voted for Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson instead of the Federalist candidate, John Adams. This was the first instance of a faithless elector.

Sources:

fairvote.org,latimes.com,thegreenpapers.com,wikipedia.org