Geez it was Ohio not Hawaii, Hawaii has voted for the democrats in every election since 1960 except in 1972 , and 1984, and Carter beat Ford by 57 electoral votes can you please explain to me how those 4 votes decided the 1976 presidentail election?
Hawaii didn't decide the election, but when it was called it pushed Carter past 270 when the networks were reporting the results. Keep in mind not all of the states had clear winners yet, so while Carter did eventually win by 57 electoral votes when all of the results came in; only 266 of his eventual 297 had actually been placed into his column before Hawaii was called.
It actually depended on the network. For example NBC declared Carter the winner when they announced that he had carried the state of Mississippi. ABC declared Carter the winner when they were able to call Wisconsin and Hawaii for Carter.
