[thechat] Bowling for Columbine

[Erik Mattheis]

On Monday, January 27, 2003, at 04:13 PM, Ben Dyer wrote:
>> Has the Electoral College ever overriddent he results of the popular
>> vote?
>
> Apparently so, but very rarely and never significantly enough to
> change the
> outcome of an election.  Doesn't stop people from trying to change
> electors' minds, though.

If the original question was "Has a the looser in a Presidential
election ever actually won the popular vote?" the answer is "Yes,
twice!"

Once in 1876 - Hayes/Tilden:
<http://www.google.com/search?q=hayes+tilden+%22popular+vote%22>

... and again (how soon we forget) in 2000 when Gore won the popular
vote and Bush won the electoral vote.

If the original question was "Has an Elector every cast a vote for a
candidate other than the one their party wanted them to?" The answer
again is "Yes!" (and more frequently than I thought):

 From the sidebar at
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1022293.stm>, occurrences in
the last half century:

1960 - Oklahoma Republican elector does not cast vote for Richard Nixon
1968 - North Carolina Republican elector casts protest vote for George
Wallace
1972 - Virginia Republican elector casts vote for Libertarian
1976 - Washington Republican elector votes for Ronald Reagan instead of
Gerald Ford
1988 - West Virginia Democrat elector votes for Lloyd Bentsen for
president instead of Michael Dukakis
-----------------------
Erik Mattheis
(612) 377 2272
<http://goZz.com/>
-----------------------