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State ‘Faithless Elector’ Rules Laws Are Constitutional

2020

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upholds state laws that remove or fine Electoral College delegates who refuse to cast their votes for the presidential candidate they were pledged to support. Justice Elena Kagan wrote that laws that remove or penalize delegates reflect “a longstanding tradition in which electors are not free agents; they are to vote for the candidate whom the State’s voters have chosen.” Although many Americans think that they elect the president and vice president, in fact, it is the Electoral College that formally decides who wins the election. Election experts worried that if Electoral College delegates were free to vote as they chose, the 2020 election would have turned into a free-for-all. The cases were Chiafalo v. Washington and Colorado Department of State v. Baca.