Supreme Court Rules Unanimously States Can Punish Electoral College Members Who Go Rogue

WASHINGTON (AP) – In a unanimous vote, The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can punish presidential electors who don’t back their states’ popular vote winner in the Electoral College.

The ruling is a defeat for advocates of changing the Electoral College, who wanted a shift in the way the country elects its president toward a nationwide popular vote.

It leaves in place laws in 32 states and the District of Columbia that bind electors to vote for the popular-vote winner.

Electors typically do so anyway.

Four “faithless electors” election from Colorado and Washington state who went rogue in the 2016 election filed a lawsuit, arguing that states can only regulate how electors are chosen and not the outcome.

Faithless electors have not been critical to the outcome of a presidential election, but that could change in a race decided by just a few electoral votes.

It takes 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

Copyright 2020. Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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