Faithless Electors, Explained: Can the Electoral College Override the Voters?

Can a member of the Electoral College vote against the candidate their state chose? The short answer: sometimes, but it almost never matters — and since 2020 the Supreme Court has made clear that states can stop it. Still, the very fact that the question has a complicated answer reveals an uncomfortable truth about how Americans actually choose a president: we don’t vote for candidates, we vote for electors, and electors are people.

What is a faithless elector?

When you cast a ballot for president, you’re really instructing your state’s slate of electors how to vote in the Electoral College. A ‘faithless elector’ is one who breaks that instruction and votes for someone else. It is rare, usually symbolic, and has happened in a scattering of elections across American history — a protest vote here, a statement there.

Has a faithless elector ever changed the outcome?

No. Not once has a faithless elector flipped the result of a presidential election. In 2016, seven electors broke ranks — the largest number in over a century for president — and it changed nothing about who took the oath. The system has absorbed these defections the way a large ship absorbs a small wave.

What did the Supreme Court decide?

In 2020, in Chiafalo v. Washington, the Court ruled unanimously that states may require electors to keep their pledge and may penalize or replace those who don’t. More than 30 states already had such binding laws. The decision closed much of the door on faithless electors as a wildcard: states are now firmly entitled to make their electors vote as promised.

Where the system still leaves a gap

Here’s the catch. Not every state binds its electors, enforcement mechanisms vary, and the Court resolved the question of whether states can compel electors — not every scenario in which a determined actor might try to exploit the seams. In an election decided by a razor-thin electoral margin, even a handful of unbound electors becomes a pressure point. The machinery is far more secure than it was a decade ago, but ‘far more secure’ is not the same as ‘impossible to game.’ The system still depends, at the edges, on people honoring their word.

Why this is thriller fuel

This is exactly the kind of seam that the Bull Moose series pries open. What It Takes to Kill a Bull Moose begins with a plot to rig a presidential election — and the most chilling thing about writing it was how little I had to invent. The vulnerabilities are already in the architecture; a novelist just has to imagine someone willing to use them. Understanding how the Electoral College really works doesn’t make you cynical. It makes you a more vigilant citizen — and, I’d argue, a more nervous reader.

Frequently asked questions

How many states have laws binding their electors? More than 30 states have laws requiring electors to vote for their pledged candidate, and after the 2020 Chiafalo ruling, states are constitutionally permitted to enforce them.

Have faithless electors ever decided a presidential election? No. Faithless electors have never changed the outcome of a U.S. presidential election, though there were seven in 2016 — the most for a presidential vote in over a century.

Could faithless electors still cause a crisis? In an election with an extremely narrow electoral margin, even a few unbound or defecting electors could become a flashpoint — which is why the question still matters.

Want a political thriller you can’t put down? Claim your free copy of The Senate Deception, the award-winning prequel to the Bull Moose series — and join 3,000+ readers who never miss a release.

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About the author: Michael Fedor is the award-winning author of the Bull Moose political thriller series. Drawing on 20 years inside politics and campaigns, he writes pulse-pounding fiction about power, democracy, and the fragile machinery of the republic.