Has a third party ever won electoral college votes?

I think George Wallace did. In 1968 he won 45 electoral votes, mostly from the south, mostly.
He also got one vote from a “faithless elector”, who ignored the States vote.
Source

Segregationist George Wallace won 5 states (46 electoral votes) in 1968.

Trump attracts the same kind of voter and will probably also win those five states: Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

Richard Nixon, Republican
301 electoral votes
32 states

Hubert Humphrey, Democratic
191 electoral votes
13 states + DC

George Wallace, American Independent
46 electoral votes
5 states

Looks like we can expect at least one “faithless elector” this election.

^ What the fuck. How is that even a thing that can happen.

@Mariah About half the states have no penalty for faithless electors. And even if there’s a penalty, it does not change the vote.

Only Michigan and Minnesota prevent the problem by voiding an electora vote that does not follow the popular vote.

I’ve always known that this is a thing that exists, but how the hell can we allow one person to choose the outcome of an election? How are these people chosen? That’s such utter garbage.

@Mariah But what is the point of having the electoral college if all they could do is vote for the winning party? The country could save whatever salary these people are receiving, and simply calculate the winner by the votes apportioned to the states. Be outraged that the electoral college exists, not that they are fulfilling their function.

I understand the benefit it gives to smaller, less populus states, by giving them a slightly larger than proportional vote. To me it is a way of increasing states’ rights. It just makes no goddamn sense to me that we’ve chosen this handful of people (how? Were they elected?) who have this weird power to change the whole outcome. Trust me I’m not happy it exists in the first place.

Well, I assume it was originally meant to be a check on the stupidity of the people. It should be a way to keep someone like Donald Trump from being president. But I also assume that no one in modern America actually wants it to work that way.