1960 United States presidential election

=== Unpledged Democratic electors ===
{{main|Unpledged elector}}
[[File:Harry F. Byrd.jpg|thumb|200px|Senator Harry F. Byrd Sr. received 15 electoral votes]]

Many Southern Democrats were opposed to voting rights for African Americans living in the South. There was a call from segregationists for electoral votes to be withheld, or to be cast for Virginia senator [[Harry F. Byrd]], a segregationist Democrat, as an independent candidate.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Novotny|first=Patrick|date=Fall 2004|title=John F. Kennedy, the 1960 Election, and Georgia's Unpledged Electors in the Electoral College|journal=The Georgia Historical Quarterly|volume=88}}</ref> Both before and after the convention, they attempted to put [[unpledged elector|unpledged Democratic electors]] on their states' ballots, in the hopes of influencing the race; the existence of such electors might influence which candidate would be chosen by the national convention, and in a close race, such electors might be in a position to extract concessions from either the Democratic or Republican presidential candidates in return for their electoral votes.

Most of these attempts failed. The Democrats in Alabama put up a mixed slate of five electors loyal to Kennedy and six unpledged electors. The Democrats in Mississippi put up two distinct slates – one of Kennedy loyalists, and one of unpledged electors. Louisiana also put up two distinct slates, although the unpledged slate did not receive the "Democratic" label. Georgia freed its Democratic electors from pledges to vote for Kennedy, although all 12 Democratic electors in Georgia did end up voting for Kennedy. Governor [[Ernest Vandiver]] wanted the Democratic electors to vote against Kennedy. Former governor Ellis Arnall supported Kennedy getting the electoral votes, with Arnall calling Vandiver's stand "utterly disgraceful".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Novotny|first=Patrick|date=Fall 2004|title=John F. Kennedy, the 1960 Election, and Georgia's Unpledged Electors in the Electoral College|journal=The Georgia Historical Quarterly|volume=88|pages=383}}</ref>

In total, 14 [[Unpledged elector|unpledged Democratic electors]] won election from the voters and chose not to vote for Kennedy, eight from Mississippi and six from Alabama. Because electors pledged to Kennedy had won a clear majority of the Electoral College, the unpledged electors could not influence the results. Nonetheless, they refused to vote for Kennedy. Instead, they voted for Byrd, even though he was not an announced candidate and did not seek their votes. In addition, Byrd received one electoral vote from a faithless Republican elector in Oklahoma, for a total of 15 electoral votes. The faithless Republican elector in Oklahoma voted for [[Barry Goldwater]] as vice president; whereas the 14 unpledged Democratic electors from Mississippi and Alabama voted for [[Strom Thurmond]] as vice president.

{{start U.S. presidential ticket box}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row| name= [[John F. Kennedy]]| party=[[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]]| state=Massachusetts | pv=34,220,984{{ref|box-a|(a)}} |pv_pct=49.72%| ev=303| vp_name=[[Lyndon B. Johnson]]| vp_state=Texas}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row| name=[[Richard Nixon]]| party=[[United States Republican Party|Republican]]| state=California| pv=34,108,157| pv_pct=49.55%| ev=219| vp_name=[[Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.]]| vp_state=Massachusetts}}

{{U.S. presidential ticket box rowspan| name=[[Harry F. Byrd]]| party=[[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]]| state=Virginia| pv=—{{ref|box-b|(b)}}| pv_pct=—{{ref|box-b|(b)}}| ev=15| vp_count=2| vp_name=[[Strom Thurmond]]| vp_state=South Carolina| vp_ev=14|}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box vp subrow| vp_name=[[Barry Goldwater]]{{ref|box-c|(c)}}| vp_state=Arizona| vp_ev=1{{ref|box-c|(c)}}}}

{{U.S. presidential ticket box row |name= (''[[unpledged elector]]s'') | party= [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] | state= (''n/a'') | pv=286,359| pv_pct=0.42% | ev=—{{ref|box-d|(d)}}| vp_name= (''n/a'') | vp_state= (''n/a'') | vp_ev=—{{ref|box-d|(d)}}}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row| name=[[Eric Hass]]| party=[[Socialist Labor Party of America|Socialist Labor]]| state=New York| pv=47,522| pv_pct=0.07%| ev=0| vp_name=[[Georgia Cozzini]]| vp_state=Wisconsin}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row| name=[[Rutherford Decker]]| party=[[Prohibition Party|Prohibition]]| state=Missouri| pv=46,203| pv_pct=0.07%| ev=0| vp_name=[[E. Harold Munn]]| vp_state=Michigan}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row| name=[[Orval Faubus]]| party=[[National States' Rights Party|States' Rights]]| state=Arkansas| pv=44,984| pv_pct=0.07%| ev=0| vp_name=[[John G. Crommelin]]| vp_state=Alabama}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row| name=[[Farrell Dobbs]]| party=[[Socialist Workers Party (United States)|Socialist Workers]]| state=New York| pv=40,175| pv_pct=0.06%| ev=0| vp_name=[[Myra Tanner Weiss]]| vp_state=New York}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row| name=[[Charles L. Sullivan]]| party=[[Constitution Party (United States 1952)|Constitution]]| state=Mississippi| pv= (TX) 18,162| pv_pct=0.03%| ev=0| vp_name=[[Merritt B. Curtis]]| vp_state=California}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box row| name=[[J. Bracken Lee]]| party=Conservative| state=Utah| pv= (NJ) 8,708| pv_pct=0.01%| ev=0| vp_name=Kent Courtney| vp_state=Louisiana|}}
{{U.S. presidential ticket box other| pv=11,128| pv_pct=0.02%}}
{{end U.S. presidential ticket box| pv=68,832,482| ev=537| to_win=269}}

{{ubl|a.{{note|box-a||''This figure is problematic; see [[#Alabama|Alabama popular vote]] above.''}}
|b.{{note|box-b||''Byrd was not directly on the ballot. Instead, his electoral votes came from [[Unpledged Elector|unpledged Democratic electors]] and a faithless elector.''}}
|c.{{note|box-c||''Oklahoma [[faithless elector]] [[Henry D. Irwin]], though pledged to vote for Richard Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., instead voted for non-candidate [[Harry F. Byrd]]. However, unlike other electors who voted for Byrd and [[Strom Thurmond]] as vice president, Irwin cast his vice presidential electoral vote for Arizona Republican Senator Barry Goldwater.''}}
|d.{{note|box-d||''In Mississippi, the slate of unpledged Democratic electors won. They cast their 8 votes for Byrd and Thurmond.''}}}}

'''Source (Popular Vote):''' {{Leip PV source 2| year=1960| as of= February 18, 2012}}Note: Sullivan / Curtis ran only in Texas. In Washington, the Constitution Party ran Curtis for president and B. N. Miller for vice president, receiving 1,401 votes.
'''Source (Electoral Vote):''' {{National Archives EV source| year=1960| as of=August 2, 2005}}

There were 537 electoral votes, up from 531 in 1956, because of the addition of two U.S. senators and one U.S. representative from each of the new states of Alaska and Hawaii. The House of Representatives was temporarily expanded from 435 members to 437, to accommodate this, and went back to 435 when re-apportioned, according to the 1960 census. The re-apportionment took place after the 1960 election.

{{bar box
|title=Popular vote
|titlebar=#ddd
|width=600px
|barwidth=410px
|bars=
{{bar percent|'''Kennedy'''|{{party color|Democratic Party (US)}}|49.72}}
{{bar percent|Nixon|{{party color|Republican Party (US)}}|49.55}}
{{bar percent|Unpledged (Byrd)|{{party color|Democratic Party (US)}}|0.42}}
{{bar percent|Others|#777777|0.31}}
}}
{{bar box
|title=Electoral vote
|titlebar=#ddd
|width=600px
|barwidth=410px
|bars=
{{bar percent|'''Kennedy'''|{{party color|Democratic Party (US)}}|56.42}}
{{bar percent|Nixon|{{party color|Republican Party (US)}}|40.78}}
{{bar percent|Byrd|{{party color|Democratic Party (US)}}|2.79}}
}}