College dropout

North Carolina split its Electoral College vote once before.

But it wasn't set up that way by lawmakers.

In the 1968 election between Republican Richard Nixon, Democrat Hubert Humphrey and third-party candidate George Wallace, the race was close in North Carolina.

In the final count, Nixon got 39.5 percent of the vote; Humphrey, 31.3; and Wallace, 29.2.

When the Electoral College met, a Nixon elector, a John Birch Society member named Dr. Lloyd W. Bailey, instead cast his ballot for Wallace, saying he was unhappy with some of the president's appointments.

"Nixon has already clearly shown to us that we are going to have more of the same," he said.

Bailey argued that his vote was justified, since Wallace was the winner in his district. Nixon won anyway, and the Rocky Mount opthalmologist later admitted he wouldn't have voted for Wallace if it had changed the outcome.