Anyone remember Pledged and Unpledged slates of electors? Alabama had such an issue on their ballot in the sixties. Voters would not vote for a Republican, but didn’t want the liberal democrat. They voted for unpledged electors that were free to vote for the Republican. Someone clear me up on this. This may have happened under Kennedy and Nixon.
Mississippi was the only state where the unpledged electors won outright. Nixon actually won only three of the former Confederate states-- Virginia, Tennessee and Florida.
Another interesting tidbit-- South Carolina's legislature still chose electors until 1860, after every other state had switched to selection of electors by the popular vote system. As recently as the 1824 election, four other states (including New York and Vermont) did likewise.