Colorado electoral college voters sue for right to ignore popular vote


A voter enters a booth at a polling place in Exeter, New Hampshire, on Election Day. (Associated Press) more >

By Victor Morton - The Washington Times - Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Two members of the Electoral College pledged to support Hillary Clinton have filed a lawsuit intended to undo the presidential-election victory of Donald Trump.

Polly Baca and Robert Nemanich, two electors in Colorado, filed their lawsuit in federal court Tuesday challenging the validity of state laws requiring members of the Electoral College to vote for the winner of the popular vote in their states, according to the Denver Post.

The two are casting themselves as “moral electors” who want to “vote their conscience and do their constitutional duty as intended by the framers,” said attorney Jason Wesoky.

Should they win their long-shot lawsuit, it will have no effect in Colorado — Mrs. Clinton won the state and its nine Electoral College votes. But similar laws in other states that voted for Mr. Trump would also be invalid, meaning all 538 members of the Electoral College could vote for whomever they wished — at least potentially undoing the result of the election.

One member of the Electoral College — Christopher Suprun in Texas —said this week he will not vote for Mr. Trump as required, arguing that College is intended to discern the candidates’ worthiness, not simply rubber-stamp the state’s populace.
Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams, a Republican, vowed Tuesday to defend the state’s electoral-college law.

“Instead of honoring the will of the Coloradans who voted for them, these two faithless electors seek to conspire with electors from other states to elect a president who did not receive a single vote in November,” Mr. Williams said in a statement.

“Make no mistake, this is not some noble effort to fight some unjust or unconstitutional law; rather, this is an arrogant attempt by two faithless electors to elevate their personal desires over the entire will of the people of Colorado. And in so doing, they seek to violate Colorado law and their own pledges,” he said in a statement, according to the Post.

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