There have been a few Electoral College votes allotted to a 3rd party candidate in the last 100 years or so, but nothing near enough to impact the outcome of the election....
The largest number I believe was Strom Thurmond in 1948 with 39 as a State's Right party candidate with 2.4% of the vote...
In 1924 the Progressive party got 13 EC votes with 16.6% of the vote....
President Reagan got one EC vote in 1976 and Harry Byrd got 13 EC Votes in 1960....
So you are correct in that they don't impact the outcome nearly as much as they would like people to think they do....
So are you saying that it was not Ross's or his suporters fault that GHB lost?