From Wikipedia article on United States Electoral College,
All jurisdictions use a winner-take-all method to choose their electors, with the exceptions of Maine and Nebraska, which use a one-elector-per-district method while also assigning two electors based on the winning ticket of the statewide popular vote.
From, Wikipedia article on Faithless elector
In United States presidential elections, a faithless elector is a member of the United States Electoral College who does not vote for the presidential or vice-presidential candidate for whom they had pledged to vote.
Not having enough knowledge on the US elections, both seem contrasting to me. I am confused on :
- If the whole state's (any except the two exceptions) votes go to either of the two major parties, how may one become "faithless" or decide not to vote for whom he/she has pledged to vote earlier?
I did realise:
there are laws specific to each state, and
historically, there has been cases of faithlessness.
but this simple problem (in bold above) is where I am stuck.
Apologies, if this is a duplicate. I would appreciate any guidance regarding this.