a "faithless elector" question

[CarolinaTiger 0]

ok... i know that 270 are needed to win, right?

and i know that if it ends in a tie, 269 each, it goes to the House.

but, what if someone wins 270 to 268, but there's a faithless elector...like the guy in west virginia that says he won't vote for Bush if Bush carries the state.

i may have the term wrong...but anywya...

that'd leave it at 269-268... assuming the guy doesn't vote for anyone (like the DC one did last time).

what then?

ct

[CShine 0]

If electors decide to vote differently from the way their state did there is no legal way to stop them from doing it. Yes, an elector could legally throw the election the other way.

[MDM4AU 336]

I believe it would be treated as a tie.

There is an instance (according to NBC Nightly News) where Bush could be President and Edwards would be VP. There is also an instance where Edwards could be the President for two years until the next major elections. I didn't catch all of what they were saying. Could someone explain this to me?

[AURaptor 1,127]

One elector DID vote against his party in the last election...and voted for Bush. I

I didn't know that the state's electors were already chosen. I thought that winning party got to appoint whom ever they wanted.

*** Upon further review.....

How the Electoral College Works

The current workings of the Electoral College are the result of both design and experience. As it now operates:

Each State is allocated a number of Electors equal to the number of its U.S. Senators (always 2) plus the number of its U.S. Representatives (which may change each decade according to the size of each State's population as determined in the Census).

The political parties (or independent candidates) in each State submit to the State's chief election official a list of individuals pledged to their candidate for president and equal in number to the State's electoral vote. Usually, the major political parties select these individuals either in their State party conventions or through appointment by their State party leaders while third parties and independent candidates merely designate theirs.

Members of Congress and employees of the federal government are prohibited from serving as an Elector in order to maintain the balance between the legislative and executive branches of the federal government.

After their caucuses and primaries, the major parties nominate their candidates for president and vice president in their national conventions

traditionally held in the summer preceding the election.