The American presidential election system has had some interesting quirks, such as...

1800, when Democrat-Republicans Jefferson and Burr receive the same number of electoral votes, thus forcing the House of Representatives to choose the president, or

1860, when Abraham Lincoln, earning just 40% of the popular vote, is the first Republican elected president. He wins in a four-way race against Stephen Douglas and John Breckenridge (who split the Democratic vote) and John Bell, who took most of the border states in the election that precipitated the Civil War.

1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000, years in which the persons (Jackson, Tilden, Cleveland, and Gore) receiving the most votes from citizens  are denied the presidency because of the electoral college system, or

1912, when Teddy Roosevelt, frustrated with the lack of Progressive zeal of his hand-picked successor, William Howard Taft, enters the race and basically hands it to Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson, or

1972, when Richard Nixon wins 49 out of 50 states, but is so fixated on his enemies that he allows practices to take place which cause him to be the first president to resign from office and the second of three presidents to have impeachment proceedings develop to a signficant level (The only two presidents formally impeached were Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Both were acquitted in the Senate).

2000, when the U.S. Supreme Court by a vote of 5-4 overrules a Florida State Supreme Court ruling requiring the manual recount of undercounted votes, thus allowing George W. Bush to win the 25 electoral votes needed and become president, even though his opponent Al Gore wins more votes nationwide (Gore's total in 2000 is 542,000 greater than Bush's). Justice John Paul Stevens comments: "It is confidence in the men and women who administer the judicial system that is the true backbone of the rule of law. Time will one day heal the wound to that confidence that will be inflicted by today's decision. One thing, however, is certain. Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's Presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law."

Notes: Electors are not required to vote for a candidate. Several times electors, as they have met at their state capitals following the November elections, have cast protest votes for ind* One elector abstained in 2000.

**George W. Bush achieved the highest total votes (59 million) as 59% of the American electorate voted, the highest number since 1968. He was also the first to win a majority of the popular votes since his father took 53.4% of the votes cast in the 1988 election.

 Basic Source: American History by Richard Current