One of the interesting quirks in our Constitution takes place today: the meeting of the Electoral College. You might have thunk that voters on Nov. 4 all 131 million of them determined the 44th president. That was only the first step.

Today, electors from all 50 states are meeting in their respective state capitals to ratify last month's will of the electorate. Actually, what voters were actually doing was deciding their states' "electors." There are 538 total electors, and a majority 270 is required for a candidate to be declared the winner. It's not the popular vote that decides the election, as Al Gore (2000), Grover Cleveland (1888), Samuel Tilden (1876) and Andrew Jackson (1824) learned to their dismay.

Vermont member of the Electoral College Kevin Christie of White River Junction, smiles after casting
AP

Kevin Christie (right) of White River Junction, a Vermont member of the Electoral College, smiles after casting his ballot for Barack Obama in Montpelier, Vt., on Monday. Elector Euan Bear of Bakersfield sits next to Christie.

According to what transpired on Nov. 4, Barack Obama (D) received 365 electoral votes to John McCain's (R) 173. It was the most EVs for a prez winner since Bill Clinton had 379 in 1996.

In terms of both popular vote and electoral vote, the race wasn't close. But when it is close as it was in 2000 and 2004 then the counting of electoral votes becomes a closely watched and potentially nail-biting event. Because, in most states, these electors are not bound by law to vote for their states' presidential winners. And there have been instances in the past where these electors call them "faithless electors" strayed from voting for the candidate who won their state. There has never been a case where these strayers have altered the outcome of the election. But it could happen.

Here is the list of those "faithless" folks since 1900:

1948, a Harry Truman (D) elector in Tennessee voted instead for States Rights Democrat Strom Thurmond;

1956, an Adlai Stevenson (D) elector in Alabama voted for a local judge named Walter Jones;

1960, a Richard Nixon (R) elector in Oklahoma voted for Sen. Harry Byrd (D-VA);

1968, a Nixon elector in North Carolina voted for American Independent Party nominee George Wallace;

1972, a Nixon elector in Virginia voted for Libertarian Party nominee John Hospers;

1976, a Gerald Ford (R) elector in Washington voted for former Gov. Ronald Reagan (R-CA.);

1988, a Michael Dukakis (D) elector in West Virginia voted for Dukakis' running mate, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX);

2000, an Al Gore (D) elector in Washington, D.C., cast no vote in protest of the District's lack of statehood; and

2004, a John Kerry (D) elector in Minnesota voted for Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards (D-NC).

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