Are the presidential electors required to vote for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates that their party has nominated?
No. An elector can cast a ballot for any individual, whether or not the individual was that party’s candidate for the office. This has happened several times in other states in recent years. (In West Virginia, 1988, a Democratic Party elector reversed the ticket and voted for Lloyd Bentsen for President and Michael Dukakis for Vice-President; Washington State, 1976, a Republican Party elector voted for Ronald Reagan for President, although Gerald Ford was the Republican nominee that year; Virginia, 1972, a Republican Party elector voted for John Hospers and Theodora Nathan, the Libertarian presidential ticket.) In 2004, a Minnesota elector pledged for John Kerry and John Edwards, cast his or her presidential vote for John Ewards [sic], rather than John Kerry, presumably by accident. (All of Minnesota’s electors cast their vice presidential ballots for John Edwards.) Minnesota’s electors cast secret ballots, so unless one of the electors claims responsibility, it is unlikely that the id
