faithless electors

...But in 2016, as in previous elections, some electors decided to support people other than the candidate who carried the popular vote in their states. The two cases the court will review — one from Washington state, the other from Colorado — raise the question of whether states can penalize or remove such “faithless electors.” The court should answer yes.

In the Washington state case, three electors — Peter Chiaflo, Levi Guerra and Esther John — voted not for Hillary Clinton, who carried the state, but former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who wasn’t even on the ballot. They were fined $1,000 each for violating a state law binding electors to vote for the popular-vote winner. The Supreme Court of Washington upheld both the law and the fines.

In Colorado, where Clinton also won the popular vote, Micheal Baca was removed as an elector after he tried to vote for then-Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, who had lost to Donald Trump in the Republican primary. Baca appealed to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in his favor, holding that “the Constitution provides no express role for the states after appointment of its presidential electors.” The court also said that the definitions of the words “elector,” “vote” and “ballot” — all occurring in the Constitution — imply “the right to make a choice or voice an individual opinion.”

This is a close question, but the court should uphold the laws against faithless electors, for two reasons.

First, the overriding goal of the framers of the Constitution was to give states authority over the selection of electors. While it’s true that early in American history, electors were chosen by state legislatures, states long ago decided that the better approach was to award electoral votes on the basis of the popular vote. The court should respect that decision by allowing states to penalize or replace electors who disregard their instructions.

Second, ensuring that voters have the final say in the selection of electors is consistent with a trend toward participatory democracy that is also reflected in changes in the Constitution, especially the 17th Amendment ratified in 1913. That amendment took the choice of U.S. senators away from state legislatures and provided for popular election for the Senate.

Of course, the ultimate culmination of that democratizing trend would be a constitutional amendment to abolish the electoral college altogether and provide for popular election of the president....

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-02-11/editorial-the-supreme-court-cant-end-the-electoral-college-but-it-can-stop-it-from-getting-worse