FAITHLESS ELECTORS
L. MacBride voted for the Libertarian Party candidate, John Hospers. MacBride had been elected as a Nixon Elector in Virginia. After receiving a great deal of publicity, MacBride ran for President as a Libertarian in 1976.
Another recent faithless Elector was Mike Padden of the state of Washington. He was chosen as a Ford Elector in 1976, but voted instead for Ronald Reagan, the former California governor who had tried unsuccessfully to take the Republican nomination away from President Ford.
The most recent faithless Elector was a Democrat from West Virginia in 1988. Although she voted for the Democratic candidates to whom she was pledged, she "reversed" her votes. She voted for Lloyd Bentsen, the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, for President and Michael Dukakis, the Democratic Presidential candidate, for Vice President.
In most of these cases, faithless Electors knew their candidates had already lost the election, and that changing their vote would not matter. The motivation may have been publicity, gain, or desire to make a political statement. But one or two Electors straying from their pledged candidate could change the outcome of the election. We have had some very close elections, including one where the margin of victory was a single electoral vote (Hayes beat Tilden 185-184 in 1876). A faithless Elector or two in one of these close contests could actually change the final results of the entire election.
Proposals have been made to remedy this situation. One of the most often made suggestions is to maintain the electoral system, but have a state’s electoral votes cast automatically, with no individuals involved, and no possibility of faithless Electors opposing the will of the voters. Certainly, political parties have been much more careful in recent years about how they choose their candidates for the position of Elector. Until something changes, let’s hope they continue to be careful.
Latest Articles