In a few states, yes, but in most it no longer works. An elector who votes for someone other than their party’s nominee is called a faithless elector. Most states have laws requiring electors to keep their pledge, and 14 of them cancel a faithless vote on the spot and replace the elector. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 2020 that states can enforce those pledges, and no faithless elector has ever changed who won the presidency.
The rules matter most in a very close election, where one or two electors could decide the result on paper.
What is a faithless elector? #
When you vote for president, you’re choosing a slate of electors that a party nominated in your state. Those electors meet in December and cast the official votes. We explain the whole process in how electors are chosen.
A faithless elector is one who casts a vote for someone other than the candidate they pledged to support. The Constitution doesn’t mention pledges at all. Alexander Hamilton imagined electors as independent judges, but political parties turned them into loyal stand-ins within a few elections, and the pledge became the norm.
Can states force electors to keep their pledge? #
Yes. That question stayed open until 2020, when the Supreme Court decided Chiafalo v. Washington and a companion case from Colorado. Both came from 2016, when electors in Washington and Colorado tried to vote for someone other than Hillary Clinton, who had won their states. Washington fined three electors $1,000 each. Colorado removed an elector and replaced him.
The Court ruled unanimously that the Constitution lets states require electors to vote for the candidate their voters chose, and to punish or replace those who don’t. (Justice Sonia Sotomayor sat out the Colorado case.) Justice Elena Kagan’s opinion ended with a line that got a lot of attention: “Here, We the People rule.”
How state laws differ #
As of 2022, 37 states and DC had some kind of faithless elector law. They fall into three groups:
| Type of law | What happens to a faithless vote | Roughly how many states |
|---|---|---|
| Cancel and replace | The vote is voided, the elector is removed, and an alternate votes as pledged | 14 |
| Penalty only | The vote counts, but the elector can be fined or charged | 3 |
| Pledge with no enforcement | The vote counts, with no legal penalty | About 20, plus DC |
| No law | The vote counts; the only consequence is political | About a dozen |
Many of the cancel-and-replace states adopted the Uniform Faithless Presidential Electors Act, a model law written by the Uniform Law Commission. States can change these laws at any time, so the exact count shifts.
Has a faithless elector ever changed an election? #
No. There have been 165 faithless votes in US history as of 2024: 90 for president and 75 for vice president. Seventy-one of them happened because the candidate the elector was pledged to had died.
1872: a candidate died before the vote #
Horace Greeley, the Democratic and Liberal Republican nominee, died on November 29, 1872, weeks after losing to Ulysses S. Grant and before the electors met. His 66 electors scattered: 42 voted for Thomas Hendricks, 18 for B. Gratz Brown, 2 for Charles Jenkins and 1 for David Davis. Three voted for Greeley anyway, and Congress refused to count those votes. Grant had already won in a landslide.
2016: ten electors tried #
In 2016, ten electors tried to break their pledge, more than in any recent election:
- Counted: Seven presidential votes went to someone other than the pledged candidate. Four Washington electors pledged to Clinton voted for Colin Powell (three) and Faith Spotted Eagle (one). One Hawaii elector voted for Bernie Sanders. Two Texas electors pledged to Donald Trump voted for John Kasich and Ron Paul.
- Blocked: Electors in Colorado, Maine and Minnesota also tried. Colorado and Minnesota replaced theirs, and Maine’s elector recast his vote after it was ruled out of order.
None of it changed the result. There were no faithless electors in 2020 or 2024.
Could a faithless elector decide a close election? #
In theory. The winner needs 270 of 538 electoral votes. In a 270-268 race, one faithless elector in a state without a binding law could create a 269-269 tie. Under the 12th Amendment, a tie or a split that leaves no one with a majority sends the choice to the House, where each state delegation casts one vote. Our explainer on what happens in an Electoral College tie walks through it.
The 2022 Electoral Count Reform Act made one related scenario harder. Congress now counts the electoral votes certified by each state’s official process, and it takes one-fifth of the House and one-fifth of the Senate to even raise an objection. That limits attempts to swap in a rival slate of electors after the fact.
Electors are also chosen for loyalty. Parties pick longtime activists, officials and donors, people with every reason to vote as promised. That, more than any law, is why faithless votes stay rare.
Why does this keep coming up? #
Close presidential races, and campaigns to abolish or reform the Electoral College, keep the question alive. Some reform proposals, like the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, would change how states pick their electors without amending the Constitution.
The 2028 race is already being polled, starting with the nominations. Election Tracker has a 2028 Primary tab with separate Republican and Democratic fields, each with its own polling average and trend line, plus presidential approval as a 7-day average. Every poll shows the pollster, sample size and dates. It’s free on iPhone.
Frequently asked questions #
Can an elector legally vote for someone else? #
It depends on the state. In the 14 states that cancel and replace faithless votes, a defecting elector’s vote is thrown out and an alternate votes instead. In states with no binding law, the vote counts as cast, though the elector may face political consequences.
What did the Supreme Court decide about faithless electors? #
In Chiafalo v. Washington (2020), the Court held that states may require electors to vote for the candidate who won the state’s popular vote and may penalize or replace those who don’t. The decision was unanimous.
How many faithless electors have there been? #
There have been 165 faithless votes through 2024, counting presidential and vice presidential votes separately. Seventy-one were cast because the pledged candidate had died before the electors met.
Were there faithless electors in 2024? #
No. Every elector voted as pledged in both 2020 and 2024.
Can an elector be bribed to change their vote? #
Bribing or threatening an elector is a crime under state and federal law. In states that replace faithless electors, a bought vote would simply be canceled.