Faithless electors

Overwhelmingly, electors in the Electoral College have faithfully voted for their party’s presidential and vice presidential nominees. However, occasionally they do not. Electors in the Electoral College who cast a vote for someone other than their party’s presidential and vice presidential nominees are called “faithless electors.”

Note: This section was last updated in October 2024. If you have questions or comments, please contact us at [email protected].

Faithless electors have never changed the outcome of a presidential election. To date, only one elector — Samuel Miles — has cast a vote for the opposite party’s nominee instead of his own in a close contest. In 1796, in the first contested presidential election, Miles, a Federalist elector from Pennsylvania, voted for Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson instead of Federalist John Adams.

90 faithless electors for president

Altogether, 23,507 electoral votes have been counted across 58 presidential elections. Only 90 electors have cast “deviant” votes, but most were due to the death of a party’s nominee rather than a true deviation from the voters’ intent. More than two-thirds of deviant votes (63) were due to the death of the party’s nominee. Twenty-four of the remaining 27 were cast for another candidate, three of which were canceled or retracted by state law. Only one — Samuel Miles in 1796 — one was cast for the opposite party’s nominee in a close election. The final three “deviant” votes consist of one abstention, one abnormal vote (switching the presidential and vice presidential nominees) and one apparent accident.

75 faithless electors for vice president

There have been 75 incidents of electors casting faithful votes for president but casting some sort of deviant vote for vice president, although no such incident has ever changed the outcome for vice president. Many, but not all, of the electors who cast deviant votes for president also cast deviant votes for vice president. Combining these shows that a total of 165 electors have cast deviant votes, either for president or vice president or both. 

There are a few instances of electors failing to vote due to illness but these are not intentional abstentions and they would be substituted with replacement electors under modern elections, so they are not included in the total.

Detailed account of every faithless elector

2016 – eight Democratic electors and two Republican electors

Although it did not impact the outcome, the 2016 election between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton included an abnormally high number of electors breaking with their political party and casting a deviant vote for President. Democratic electors were: David Bright (Maine — Bernie Sanders); Muhammad Abdurrahman (Minnesota — Bernie Sanders); Micheal Baca (Colorado — John Kasich); Esther John (Washington  — Colin Powell); Levi Guerra (Washington — Colin Powell), Bret Chiafalo (Washington — Colin Powell); Robert Satiacum (Washington — Faith Spotted Eagle); and David Mulinix (Hawaii — Bernie Sanders). 

The two Republican electors were Chris Suprun (Texas — John Kasich) and Bill Greene (Texas — Ron Paul). Additionally, one Texas Republican elector, Art Sisneros, withdrew after Election Day but prior to the electors voted; he was replaced. Seven of these electors also voted for a different candidate for vice president than their party’s nominee.

The two electors from Minnesota and Colorado were replaced following their deviant votes, so their votes were not reported in the final count. The elector from Maine was ruled out of order; he switched his vote to Clinton/Kaine, so his original deviant vote was also not reported in the final count. Seven votes were for candidates other than Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. So, instead of the expected outcome (Trump 306 to Clinton 232), the final tally was Trump 304, Clinton 227, Others 7.

2004 — one Democratic elector 

An unknown elector from Minnesota pledged to vote for Democrat John Kerry but — in an apparent mistake — cast a presidential vote instead for his running mate, John Edwards. (The elector also cast their vice presidential vote for Edwards). One Minnesota elector said, “I’m certainly glad the Electoral College isn’t separated by one vote,” one Minnesota elector, who believed the vote was a mistake, said at the time.

2000 — one Democratic elector 

Barbara Lett-Simmons, a Democratic elector from Washington, D.C., declined to cast her vote to protest the lack of congressional representation for her city. She was the first elector to abstain from voting since 1832. Her abstention did not affect the outcome of the election.

1988 — one Democratic elector 

Margaret Leach, a nurse from Huntington, West Virginia, was pledged to the Democratic Party but learned that electors were not required to vote for the candidates to whom they were pledged. She switched her votes to draw attention to what she considered a flawed process. She cast her presidential vote for Democrat Lloyd Bentsen, her party’s vice presidential candidate, and her vice presidential vote for Michael Dukakis, her party’s presidential candidate.

She tried and failed to get other electors to join her.

1976 — one Republican elector 

Mike Padden, a lawyer from Spokane, Washington, was pledged to vote for Gerald Ford, the 1976 Republican candidate for president. Instead, Padden voted for Ronald Reagan, who lost a Republican primary bid. For vice president, Padden voted for Robert Dole, Gerald Ford’s running mate.

1972 — one Republican elector 

Roger L. MacBride was pledged to the Republican party of Virginia. However, he did not cast his vote for Richard Nixon, his party’s 1972 presidential candidate. Instead, he voted for John Hospers, the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate.

MacBride also cast his vice presidential vote for Toni Nathan, the Libertarian Party’s vice presidential candidate, making her 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.

1968 — one Republican elector 

Dr. Lloyd W. Bailey was an elector for the Republican Party of North Carolina.  Instead of voting for Richard Nixon, his party’s nominee in 1968, he voted for George Wallace, the American Independence Party’s nominee. (Wallace received a total of 46 electoral votes.)

Bailey claimed that Nixon had displeased him by appointing Henry Kissinger and Daniel Moynihan to positions in the Nixon administration. 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 won Bailey’s district.

Bailey later admitted that he would have voted for Nixon if his vote would have altered the outcome of the election.

1960 — one Republican elector 

Henry D. Irwin, a Republican elector from Oklahoma, was originally pledged to Richard Nixon but admitted in a CBS News interview that he “could not stomach” him. Irwin tried to persuade Democratic and Republican electors to reject both John F. Kennedy and Nixon. He voted instead for two conservative U.S. senators: Harry F. Byrd of Virginia and Barry Goldwater of Arizona. 

He also sent telegrams to the 218 other Republican electors, one of which read: “I am [an] 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.”

About 40 electors replied, but Irwin was the only one who voted 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 Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina as vice president. These were not faithless electors, however; they were elected as unpledged electors and were free to vote as they chose.

1956 — one Democratic elector

W.F. Turner, a Democratic elector from Alabama, voted for Democrat Walter Burgwyn Jones, a former circuit court judge from Turner’s hometown, instead of Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson. He also voted for the Democratic U.S. Senator Herman Talmadge for vice president instead of Stevenson’s running mate, Estes Kefauver.

1948 — one Democratic elector 

Preston Parks, a member of Tennessee’s Democratic Party, was appointed as an elector early in the election year. Before the election, party members split and formed the States’ Rights Party, a segregationist party in opposition to civil rights.

Before the election, Parks said he would not vote for Harry Truman, his party’s nominee, but rather for Sen. Strom Thurmond, the States’ Rights Party nominee. Another elector also made the same pledge but ended up voting for Truman. Parks also voted for Thurmond’s running mate, Fielding L. Wright, for vice president.

Thurmond gathered less than 3% of the popular vote and received 39 electoral votes. Thurmond earned the other 38 electors by winning Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina.

1912 — eight Republican electors (vice president only, due to nominee’s death)

In 1912, President William Taft’s vice president and running mate, James S. Sherman, died before the election. They were seeking reelection on the Republican Party’s ticket.

Eight Republican electors voted for Nicholas Murray Butler, Taft’s new running mate. No deviant votes were cast for president in 1912.

1896 — four Peoples Party electors (vice president only)

In 1896, the Democratic and the People’s Parties both ran William Jennings Bryan as their presidential nominee but nominated different vice presidential candidates. The Democratic Party nominated Arthur Sewall and the People’s Party nominated Thomas Watson.

The People’s Party won 31 electoral votes,  all of which went for Bryan for president. Four electors backed Sewall for vice president.

1872 — sixty-three Democratic electors (changed votes due to death)

In 1872, Democratic nominee Horace Greeley earned 66 electors. Greeley died after the November election but before the Electoral College convened . Three electors voted for Greeley, and Congress did not count those three votes. 

Of the remaining 63, 42 voted for Independent-Democrat Thomas Hendricks; 18 voted for Greeley’s running mate, B. Gratz Brown; two voted for Democrat Charles Jenkins; and one voted for Democrat David Davis. Their votes are considered deviant votes, but they are not faithless electors because voting for their nominee was not a meaningful option.

1836 — twenty-three Democratic electors (vice president only)

The Democratic Party nominated Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky as its vice presidential candidate. But 23 Virginia electors refused to support Johnson because of his former common-law marriage with an enslaved woman. 

Without those 23 votes, Johnson could not gain majority support in the Electoral College, and the decision was deferred to the Senate. In the end, the Senate backed Johnson as vice president.

1832 — thirty Democratic electors (vice president only)

Pennsylvania’s 30 electors refused to support the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Martin Van Buren, and instead voted for William Wilkins. Despite this loss, Martin Van Buren was elected vice president. Andrew Jackson was elected president, receiving over 75% of the electoral votes.

Additionally, two national Republican electors did not vote due to illness.

1828 — seven Democratic electors (vice president only)

In this election, seven of nine Georgia electors refused to vote for vice presidential nominee John Calhoun. All seven cast their vice presidential votes for Democrat William Smith instead. Andrew Jackson won, with John Calhoun as his vice president.

1820 — one Democratic-Republican elector

William Plummer Sr. of New Hampshire was pledged to vote for Democratic-Republican nominee James Monroe. Instead, he voted for John Quincy Adams, a Democratic Republican who did not run that year. 

This election of 1820 was the last uncontested presidential election in U.S. history, and Plummer believed that the Electoral College shouldn’t unanimously elect anyone other than George Washington. Plummer’s vote for Adams was the only vote against Monroe.

This election also saw a dispute over the validity of Missouri’s three electoral votes, due to an underlying argument over when Missouri achieved full statehood that led to inconsistent reports as to the total number of electoral votes cast. However, the Missouri voters were not faithless electors.

1812 — three Federalist electors (vice president only)

Three Federalist Party electors refused to cast their votes for their party’s vice presidential nominee, Jared Ingersoll. All three voted instead for Elbridge Gerry, the Democratic-Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee.

1808 — six Democratic-Republican electors

Six Democratic-Republican electors refused to support James Madison, their party’s presidential nominee. Instead, they voted for George Clinton, the Democratic-Republican Party’s vice presidential candidate. 

Additionally, one Democratic-Republican elector from Kentucky did not vote because he was sick.

1796 — one Federalist elector 

Pennsylvania’s Samuel Miles was the first elector to break a pledge to vote for a specific candidate. Miles had promised to vote for Federalist nomineeJohn Adams but instead cast a ballot for Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson.

While Miles did not affect the outcome of the election — Jefferson still lost by three electoral votes — his decision earned him a dubious spot in history. The Gazette of the United States published a letter expressing an attitude toward faithless electors that persists today: “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.”

Faithless elector state laws

Thirty-eight states (including Washington, D.C.) require electors to vote for a pledged candidate. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld these laws in 2020 in Chiafalo v. Washington, which held that states may require pledges and penalize or cancel deviant votes.

The Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act

FairVote supports the Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act, drafted by the Uniform Law Commission. The Act provides for electors to pledge to vote for a candidate and to be replaced if they do not vote as pledged. Ten states have enacted the legislation: California, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Washington. California and North Dakota are the most recent state to enact it, passing in 2022 and 2021 respectively. Many other states have similar language, even if they did not adopts the Uniform Faithful Presidential Electors Act exactly.

Presidential event tracker

The Presidential Tracker lists campaign events held between party conventions and Election Day. As expected, most events occur in swing states. In 2020, 96% of campaign events were held in 12 “battleground” states.

Contested nominating conventions

FairVote tracks contested conventions* because their multiple rounds of voting parallel RCV. Multiround nomination processes are more likely to identify a consensus nominee, which helps parties nominate a candidate with the broadest support for the general election. While contested conventions are rare in the modern era, RCV in primary elections would restore the benefits of multiround voting.

Party conventions began in the mid-1800s as a way to formalize nominations for president and vice president. Democratic conventions have been held since 1832 and Republican conventions since 1856. Since then, only 26 conventions have been brokered or contested. Most contested conventions occurred prior to 1936, when Democrats mandated that nominees receive two-thirds of the vote. In1936, both parties began operating under a simple majority rule, and there have been only five contested conventions since.

This list shows all contested conventions in U.S. history. 

Current as of October 2024.*Note: “Contested convention” and “brokered convention” have slightly different meanings. FairVote uses “contested convention” to refer to both.