# Electors NOT voting for their Presidential candidate. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 12, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electors-not-voting-for-their-presidential-candidate/774540 "2016-12-12T18:54:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electors-not-voting-for-their-presidential-candidate/774540/1 "2016-12-12T18:54:23Z")
(Sometimes referred to as “faithless electors”.) I’ve searched the Internet to see how many times this has happened and it seems to be a _very rare_ occurrence. (Remember I am only looking for _Presidential electoral votes_ that were changed). 2004 - one electoral vote was cast for John Edwards. 2000 - one electoral vote was _not_ cast. 1988 - one vote went to Lloyd Bentsen. 1976 - one vote went to Ronald Reagan. 1972 - one vote went to John Hospers. 1956 - one vote went to Herman Talmadge. 1820 - the death of 3 electors caused 3 electoral votes _not_ to be cast. If there are any others you can find, please let me know. What I found to be the best reference on this subject is: > **[The Electoral College](https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college)** > > It's a Process, not a Place The Electoral College is how we refer to the process by which the United States elects the President, even though that term does not appear in the U.S. Constitution. In this process, the States (which includes the District... ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electors-not-voting-for-their-presidential-candidate/774540/2 "2016-12-12T19:13:16Z")
According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faithless_elector), there have been 179 faithless electoral votes cast. However some of them were for vice presidential candidates. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electors-not-voting-for-their-presidential-candidate/774540/3 "2016-12-12T21:34:48Z")
Thanks **Little Nemo** That was a good reference. The link I had posted was quite good but it only mentioned electors changing their votes because of mistakes or for some obscure candidate (John Hospers). ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electors-not-voting-for-their-presidential-candidate/774540/4 "2016-12-12T21:39:39Z")
What is interesting is that there seem not to be multiple faithless electors in any Presidential vote. So if 2 or more vote for Ryan, Sanders, Cruz, et al. it would be a huge (but ineffectual) protest. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electors-not-voting-for-their-presidential-candidate/774540/5 "2016-12-13T01:53:47Z")
Well, I used the information I found and updated my web page [here](http://www.1728.org/page13.htm). (Scroll to the bottom for the “faithless electors”.) **Saint Cad** electors changing their pledged vote is a pretty rare occurrence. Quite often, when it occurs, it is done _after_ their pledged candidate is assured of winning. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electors-not-voting-for-their-presidential-candidate/774540/6 "2016-12-13T18:19:33Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > What is interesting is that there seem not to be multiple faithless electors in any Presidential vote. So if 2 or more vote for Ryan, Sanders, Cruz, et al. it would be a huge (but ineffectual) protest. Huh? 15 faithless electors in 1960, 23 in 1836, 6 in 1808. And that’s not counting the 63 faithless electors in 1872, but in that case the candidate did have the temerity to die first so you can’t really blame them. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electors-not-voting-for-their-presidential-candidate/774540/7 "2016-12-13T21:54:34Z")
> [@duality72](#): > > Huh? 15 faithless electors in 1960, 23 in 1836, 6 in 1808. And that’s not counting the 63 faithless electors in 1872, but in that case the candidate did have the temerity to die first so you can’t really blame them. Are you talking PRESIDENTIAL electors because you seem to be including vice-presidential electors and unpledged electors. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electors-not-voting-for-their-presidential-candidate/774540/8 "2016-12-13T21:55:57Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > **Saint Cad** electors changing their pledged vote is a pretty rare occurrence. Quite often, when it occurs, it is done _after_ their pledged candidate is assured of winning. Hence my point that multiple faithless electors not voting for Trump would be a significant statement. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electors-not-voting-for-their-presidential-candidate/774540/9 "2016-12-13T22:11:17Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Are you talking PRESIDENTIAL electors because you seem to be including vice-presidential electors and unpledged electors. My mistake on 1836, but the other elections were presidential electors changing the electoral votes of their state for the presidential race. I don’t see so-called unpledged electors as a significant difference for the purpose of this discussion.