New Jersey and Abraham Lincoln

[ill ind]

  The reason for the split in New Jersey's electoral vote in 1860 is this:
  At the time one voted for the individual electors by casting a ticket with the names of the various electors printed on it.  If one did not want to vote for a particular elector then one could cross out their name and a vote would not be counted for that individual.
  The opposition to Abraham Lincoln combined into a fusion ticket of 3 Douglas electors, 2 Breckenridge electors, and 2 Bell electors.  When election day came around, the vote total difference between the two tickets (pro-Lincoln, and anti-Lincoln) was pretty close.  The Anti-Lincoln ticket did indeed get the most votes, but enough people casting that ticket crossed off the names of the 4 Bell and Breckenridge electors that they got less votes than the Lincoln electors electing the 4 with the highest vote total.  I assume that this was done by people who had a pro-Northern sentiment who had no problem voting for Douglas, but didn't want to vote for electors for what were perceived as pro-south/pro-slavery candidates.
  Several other states had Fusion tickets in the field as well.  The Anti-Lincoln tickets in New York, and Rhode Island were composed of electors representing the other three candidates as well, but none won.  In Pennsylvania, there was partial success in uniting the Breckenridge/Douglas forces behind a joint ticket, but some of the Douglas electors balked leaving an incomplete Douglas ticket still out there.  In 'official results' the Breckenridge total from Pennsylvania was actually the vote for the joint Breckenridge/Douglas ticket, and the Douglas vote was for the 'rump' ticket of the 12 (I think)Douglas electors that refused to sign onto the joint ticket.
  There was also some attempt at a joint opposition ticket in Connecticut too, which accounts for Breckenridge's unusually high percentage in that Northern state.  The Breckenridge vote was for the 'Fusion' ticket, while the Douglas vote was for a 'pure' ticket of Douglas electors.

Hope this explains the situation a bit.

Ill Ind