The 156 "faithless electors" in history

To date, faithless electors have not affected the outcome of an election, but this information is food for thought:

"Faithless Electors"

"Faithless Electors" are members of the Electoral College who, for whatever reason, do not vote for their party's designated candidate.

Since the founding of the Electoral College, there have been 156 faithless Electors.

71 of these votes were changed because the original candidate died before the day on which the Electoral College cast their votes.

Three of the votes were not cast at all. These three Electors chose to abstain from casting their Electoral vote for any candidate.

The other 82 Electoral votes were changed on the personal initiative of the Elector. Sometimes Electors changed their votes in large groups, such as when 23 Virginia Electors acted together in 1836. Many times, these Electors stood alone in their decision.

http://www.fairvote.org/e_college/faithless.htm

This SCOTUS decision gave states the right to require pledges of electors and punish those who do not follow the pledge. Currently, only 26 states require such pledges.

I'm doing further research.

The following twenty states and the district of Columbia bind electors to candidates via pledges and state law:

California
Colorado
Connecticut
District of Columbia
Hawaii
Maine
Maryland
Michigan
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Mexico
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
South Carolina
Vermont
Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

The following states bind electors to parties via pledges and state law:

Alabama
Alaska
Florida
Massachusetts
Mississippi
Washington

The implications of this are strong. In Florida, the electors must only vote for a Democrat, not necessarily Kerry.

Chicanery could still come into play, even after Kerry wins.

Arizona
Arkansas
Iowa
Minnesota
Missouri
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
West Virginia

Strong and Weak Kerry States where electors can switch their vote without legal repercussions:

Delaware
Maryland
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
Rhode Island

This is pretty much proof that if it comes down to a close vote there could still be chicanery after the election has been called for Kerry.

Kerry supporters, please be mindful of this potential for the stealing of the election. Let's look into Kerry's slate of electors in these states and expect there to be extreme pressure applied on them by Bushco if the election is within a few electoral votes.

Being mindful that we must be prepared to play by their rules, the following are Strong and Weak Bush states where electors can change their votes without legal repercussions:

Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
North Dakota
South Dakota
Texas
Utah

try to get some Bush electors to do that??

Barber was preparing memoes to all Democratic Electors when it looked like the recount in florida was actually going to happen.

Bob Beckel who tried to turn some of the Florida electors to Gore. Also, there was a website trying to get people to lobby for it.

I helped on that campaign!!!

Florida has legal consequences for changing your vote from your pledge if it's to a different party.

Keep in mind, in Florida had the Republican electors changed to another Republican, following the law, it would have resulted in the election being thrown to the House where Bush would have won anyway.

(although sadly not in mine--Ca). I helped raise money for the cause--could tell you how much I sent if I had a while to look up the records. I know that quite a few CA $$$ were sent to help--even though our electors were safely Democratic.

(Of course nothing happened from it--but it was a great thing to have up our sleeve just in case)!

All of the states where electors can be switched without consequences are there. We should look into protecting our own and look into who Bush has slated in his states.

Preparation is key before battle.

is a shameless kick.