Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew won North Carolina's 13 electoral votes in the November 5, 1968, election.1 When the electors met, they voted 12 to 1 for Nixon: Dr. Lloyd W. Bailey, a Rocky Mount physician, voted for the American Independent ticket of George Wallace and Curtis LeMay.2 Bailey had been chosen as the Republican elector for the state's Second Congressional District.3 An elector who votes against the candidate he was chosen to support is commonly called a faithless elector.4
When Congress counted the votes on January 6, 1969, Representative James O'Hara of Michigan and Senator Edmund S. Muskie of Maine objected in writing to counting Bailey's vote.5 It was the first time the objection procedure of the 1887 electoral count law had been used.6 Muskie told the Senate that Bailey had chosen to substitute his own judgment for that of North Carolina's voters.7 Each house met separately and rejected the objection, the Senate by 33 votes to 58 and the House by 170 to 228, so the vote was counted as cast.8
Bailey's vote did not change the outcome of the election.9 Muskie later argued that the decision left electors free to vote for the candidate of their choice, whether or not they had been elected on a party slate.10
American Independent Party candidate Wallace received 9,906,473 popular votes for President.
National Archives, Electoral College results for 1968, archives.gov, read October 3, 2026. Quoted as published.
Sources for each sentence
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- Back to sentence 1
President-elect Nixon and his running mate Agnew won North Carolina's 13 electoral votes in the Nov. 5 election.
abacus.bates.edu/muskie-archives/ajcr/1969/Faithless Elector Announcement.html - Back to sentence 2
North Carolina's Electoral College delegation voted 12-1 for President-elect Richard M. Nixon
abacus.bates.edu/muskie-archives/ajcr/1969/Faithless Elector Announcement.html Dr. Lloyd W. Bailey, a Rocky Mount physician and member of the rightist John Birch Society, voted for the third party ticket of Wallace and Gen. Curtis LeMay.
abacus.bates.edu/muskie-archives/ajcr/1969/Faithless Elector Announcement.html American Independent Party candidate Wallace received 9,906,473 popular votes for President.
archives.gov/electoral-college/1968 - Back to sentence 3
Dr. Bailey, elector from the Second Congressional District, held out for the American Party
abacus.bates.edu/muskie-archives/ajcr/1969/Faithless Elector Announcement.html - Back to sentence 4
The first was an instance of what has been called the “faithless elector” problem.
everycrsreport.com/reports/RL32717.html - Back to sentence 5
In 1969, a Representative (James O’Hara of Michigan) and a Senator (Edmund S. Muskie of Maine) objected in writing to counting the vote of an elector from North Carolina
everycrsreport.com/reports/RL32717.html On Monday, January 6, the Senate and the House of Representatives will meet in joint session
abacus.bates.edu/muskie-archives/ajcr/1969/Faithless Elector Announcement.html - Back to sentence 6
These procedures have been invoked twice since enactment of the 1887 law. The first was an instance of what has been called the “faithless elector” problem.
everycrsreport.com/reports/RL32717.html - Back to sentence 7
Dr. Bailey chose to substitute his own judgment for that of the voters of North Carolina.
abacus.bates.edu/muskie-archives/ajcr/1969/Faithless Elector Announcement.html - Back to sentence 8
Both chambers met and voted separately to reject the objection, so when the joint session resumed, the challenged electoral vote was counted as cast.
everycrsreport.com/reports/RL32717.html the Senate by a vote of 33 ayes to 58 nays rejects the objection
everycrsreport.com/reports/RL32717.html Congressional Record , vol. 115 (January 6, 1969), p. 171. The House vote was 170-228.
everycrsreport.com/reports/RL32717.html - Back to sentence 9
Dr. Bailey's vote does not affect the outcome of the 1968 presidential election.
abacus.bates.edu/muskie-archives/ajcr/1969/Faithless Elector Announcement.html - Back to sentence 10
(By EDMUND S. MUSKIE, U. S. Senator from Maine)
abacus.bates.edu/muskie-archives/ajcr/1969/Electoral College.html electors are free on Electoral College day, to vote for the candidate of their personal choice whether or not they were elected on a party slate
abacus.bates.edu/muskie-archives/ajcr/1969/Electoral College.html
Sources checked on October 3, 2026
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