On March 3, the Oklahoma Senate unanimously passed SB 1108, which removes the names of presidential elector candidates from the November ballot. Instead their names will be on a sheet of paper posted at each polling place. If this bill is signed into law, it takes effect immediately.

Assuming it passes, the only states that will still print the names of presidential elector candidates on the November ballot will be North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, and Arizona. Long ago, each state printed the names of every candidate for presidential elector and let voters vote for individual candidates for elector, so that it was possible for a voter to vote for one elector on one party’s ticket, another elector on another party’s ticket, etc. That is why, in the past, it was not rare for states to split their electoral votes between two different candidates, even though that state was using a winner-take-all system. For example, in 1916, West Virginia elected seven Republican presidential electors and one Democratic elector to the electoral college. Thanks to E. Zachary Knight for the news.