1796 while we were still figuring out what a presidential election was. that s not all. in addition to the sheer number of people who got electoral college votes, we also set a record this year for the number of electors thorp bound who wer support a particular countdown, but they bailed on that obligation and decided to vote for somebody else. when that happened, that was the largest number of electors to defect on a presidential ballot since 1872. in 1872, they had great reason to defect and switch their vote to somebody else instead of the presidential candidate they were bound to support, because in 1872 there was this guy horace greely and he up and died between the election and when the electoral college cast their votes. five days before the election his wife died. five days after that he lost the