The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can penalize presidential electors that go rogue and do not vote for the candidate who won their state, also known as faithless electors.
The decision was unanimous from the high court and a blow to a Democratic-aligned movement to chip away at the Electoral College.
The court in Chiafalo v. Washington and Colorado Department of State v. Baca evaluated legal challenges to state laws that required electors to follow the will of their state’s voters.
One of the cases stemmed from the Washington Supreme Court upholding fines against three of the state’s 2016 presidential electors who violated a law by not casting their votes for Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, the Democratic ticket that won the popular vote in the state.
The three faithless electors cast their votes for former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Republican. They hoped it would persuade GOP electors to abandon Donald Trump and install a moderate Republican as president.
The three Powell voters challenged Washington’s law as a violation of the Constitution, noting the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a similar case out of Colorado that individuals “are free to vote as they choose” in the Electoral College.
