Who's the President?

[Bill Richter]

In the election of 1872, Grant's opponent Horace Greeley died before the electoral college met. Most electors voted for him anyway. Some cast their ballots for other Democrats. As I understand it, no elector has to vote for the person to whom he/she is pledged. Had Greeley won (even if dead) I assume that whoever was elected vice president by electors counted in the US Senate would serve. But it is possible that a vp of another party could be elected in any election that goes to the House (pres) and/or Senate (vp), although the 12th amendment was designed to make that harder to do than in the disputed election of 1800 (Jefferson/Burr). Martin Van Buren was elected outright by the electoral college, but his vp Richard Johnson was selected by the US Senate, dominated at the time by Democrats. Electors from Virginia had refused to vote for him on the ticket because he was living openly with a black woman Julia Chinn, by whom he sired two daughters, whom he claimed and eventually left his estate to. The rest of the family managed to get his will voided in state court in Kentucky.