The
electors were to use their own judgment, and it was not necessary
that all the electors chosen in one state should vote for the same
candidate. The people on election day were not supposed to be voting
for a president but for presidential electors. This theory was never
realized. The two elections of Washington, in 1788 and 1792, were
unanimous. In the second contested election, that of 1800, the
electors simply registered the result of the popular vote, and it has
been so ever since. Immediately after the popular election, a whole
month before the meeting of the electoral college, we know who is to
be the next president. There is no law to prevent an elector from
voting for a different pair of candidates from those at the head of
the party ticket, but the custom has become as binding as a statute.
The elector is chosen to vote for specified candidates, and he must do
so.
[Sidenote: Electors formerly chosen in many states by districts; now
usually on a general ticket.]
On the other hand, it was not until long after 1800 that all the
electoral votes of the same state were necessarily given to the same
pair of candidates. It was customary in many states to choose the
electors by districts.
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