New Jersey, Split Electoral Vote, 1860

[Meeker]

How they used to elect members of the electoral college was literally voting for the electors (they printed the names on the ballot). Generally people vote for all the electors of the candidate they support, but not always. That "not always" becomes important when the election is close, like in New Jersey in 1860.

The NJ Democrats originally nominated all Douglas electors. But, due to the schism in the national and NJ Democratic Party, the Democrats reversed their decision and nominated a slate of fusion delegates (3 who favored Douglas, 2 who favored Breckenridge and 2 who favored Bell). Then you need to keep in mind that back in these days you weren't given a ballot by an elections official. You were given a ballot by the party and then turned the ballot in. So the NJ Democrats sent out the fusion ballots to their county officials to pass out on election day, but the county official in one of the counties decided not to pass out the fusion ballots and instead passed out the Douglas ballots. That reduced the number of votes the two Breckenridge and two Bell electors received statewide by enough of a margin to allow four Republican electors to be chosen.

You probably already knew most of that, but I hope that clears up the details.

And anyone who knows better than me can feel free to correct me, I'm not 100% of the details of 1860's New Jersey election and nominating law.