The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to free 'faithless electors' in the complex Electoral College system that decides the outcome of presidential elections from state laws that force them to support the candidate who wins the state's popular vote.
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to free “faithless electors” in the complex Electoral College system that decides the outcome of presidential elections from state laws that force them to support the candidate who wins the state’s popular vote.
The court sided with Washington state and Colorado, which had imposed penalties on several “faithless electors” - so named because they defied pledges in 2016 to vote for the winner of their states’ popular vote, Democrat Hillary Clinton. “The Constitution’s text and the nation’s history both support allowing a state to enforce an elector’s pledge to support his party’s nominee - and the state voters’ choice - for President,” liberal Justice Elena Kagan wrote on behalf of the court.
But in 2016, 10 of the 538 electors cast ballots for someone other than their state’s popular vote winner, an unusually high number that could have changed the outcome of five of the 58 previous U.S. presidential elections. “When we launched these cases, we did it because regardless of the outcome, it was critical to resolve this question before it created a constitutional crisis,” Lessig added.
Colorado and Washington state are among the 48 states - only Maine and Nebraska excepted - with winner-takes-all systems awarding all electors to the candidate who wins the state’s popular vote. Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia have laws intended to control how electors vote. Only a handful enforce them with penalties.
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