I saw a story that a West Virginian electoral voter said that if the race was close, he’d vote for Kerry. Seems a bit irresponsible, but are there any repercussions besides losing your seat in the electoral college? If the vote was a landslide in favor of candidate A, what would happen if the electoral voter still choose candidate B?
There are no repercussions. An elector is not bound to vote for the winner of the popular vote in his or her state. Electors have gone against the vote in the past, but this has never been decisive. The elector would not lose his seat in the Electoral Collage either. There is no seat to lose. it’s just a one time meeting. It’s unlikely he would ever be picked again, however. It should be pointed out that the parties pick their own slate of electors. Naturally, the parties pick people faithful to their own side so turncoat electors are really rare.
Several states have “faithless elector” laws (twenty-one states, to be precise.) However, West Virginia is not one of them; and as the sidebar here says, such laws probably wouldn’t stand up on a constitutional challenge.
In real life, though, a faithless elector probably can kiss all his party connections goodbye.
How often has this happened? What was the largest percentage win wherein the electoral voter still voted for the other candidate. Anyone know this or know a source where I can find it?
Assuming that there is an equal need for all types of jobs, how does the military decide who goes where? Do they look at how you scored on the various physical and intellectual tests? Does anyone know the criteria on which they are evaluated?
As far as I know, no faithless elector has changed the outcome or thrown the decision into the Congress.
The only time someone has switched to the OTHER major party candidate was the first faithless elector, 1796 - Samuel Miles (Federalist, Pennsylvania) . He was supposed to vote for John Adams but voted for Thomas Jefferson, who then won by three instead of one.
Whoops.
The 1836 VP decision was thrown to the Senate because of 23 withheld votes.
ignore or mod please delete. thanks.
On a related note, how far in advance are the electors chosen? It seems odd to me that they are apparently chosen before the actual election, but maybe I’m missing something.
Technically, they’re chosen on Election Day. You’re not really casting your vote for Kerry or Bush - you’re casting it for an elector of that particular party.
I understand that. On election day we are not voting for the president directly, but choosing how we want the electors to vote. The actual people who are going to be filling the role of elector are chosen by the parties.
But it surprises me that the parties have chosen who those electors will be already. If this person is saying up front that they will not guarantee a vote according to the party that chose them, it seems odd to me that the party couldn’t replace that elector (since the election hasn’t happened yet).
Does anyone know how the actual people are chosen, and what kind of rules govern the parties ability to replace them? This probably varies by state, but any examples will be helpful.
The names of the proposed electors must be registered with state election authority before the election. The states have printing and distribution deadlines after which an elector cannot be removed from a ballot — even if he does something dumb like talking publicly about voting contrary to his party. Apparently this proposed elector didn’t start speaking out until after that deadline. You can be sure that if he spoke out before the deadline, the party would have replaced him in a flash.
That’s part of my confusion. Where does this information get printed such that the states would incur costs to change it? When I go to the poll, I don’t see the names of the electors I am actually voting for anywhere. Is it there and I just missed it?
Contact your state election authority, or the state headquarters of the political parties. They can tell you the names of the state’s proposed electors.
I understand that I could find them if I wanted to. I’m just wondering what the restrictions are that prevent states from allowing the parties to change them up until election day. I could understand if they had to be printed on the ballot and they needed the time for logistical reasons, but I’ve never known that to be the case. Maybe I just live in the wrong place (I’m in TX). Does anyone know if other states print the proposed electors on the presidential ballot itself?
The statutes of West Virginia, the home state of the publicly errant elector, have a section detailing how and when the electors in a presidential election are chosen. State parties must hold conventions in June, July, or August, the presidential electors must be nominated at the convention, and the slate must be reported to the West Virginia secretary of state within 15 days after the convention.
Section 192A of the Texas statutes deals with presidential electors.
So, is your assesment that the electors cannot be replaced simply because the states have rules that technically prevent it, and there is no logistical reason that should make it necessary to name them in advance?
I would have to look at the statutes in all 50 states and D.C. to answer that question. For some states, it may be because of printing and distribution deadlines. In other states, the aim is to make the nomination of electors the result of a statewide party convention, and not an act of patronage by just the governor or the party leadership.