Jul 6, 2020:
Supreme Court rules states can remove 'faithless electors' | The Hill
May 13, 2020:
U.S. Supreme Court justices worry about 'chaos' in Electoral College dispute | Reuters
Aug 20, 2019:
A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Colorado ruled 2-1 that presidential electors are free to cast their votes for any candidate they wish, regardless of their prior pledge or the result of the popular vote in the state they represent.
A "faithless elector" is an elector who votes for someone other than the candidate who won the popular vote in that elector's state.
Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have laws against faithless electors - the other 21 states do not. In states that have laws against faithless electors, any elector who violates that law will generally have his or her vote invalidated and changed to the candidate to whom the elector originally pledged.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling makes state laws against "faithless electors" unconstitutional:
It held that electors have a constitutional right to vote for the presidential candidate of their choice and are not bound by any prior pledges they may have made. It said electors are federal officials, the act of voting for President in the electoral college is a federal act not subject to state law, and state laws requiring electors to vote only for the candidates they pledged are unconstitutional and unenforceable.
The ruling brings up the ongoing debate about whether the electoral college should be abolished and instead, elections should be determined strictly by the popular vote.
The court ruling will most likely be appealed.
Source:
"Faithless elector". Wikipedia. Retrieved 2019-08-25.
Faithless elector: A court ruling just changed how we pick our president | NBC News
Electoral College Members Can Defy Voters' Wishes, Court Rules | The New York Times
Commentary:
The upcoming 2020 presidential election is surely going to be both competitive and contentious. Given that, this court ruling could have a major impact on the outcome of that election.
Imagine a tie (or near tie) in the electoral college vote where one or several electors decide to vote against their pledge, giving the election to the opposite party candidate and contrary to that state's popular vote.
In my opinion the electoral college should be abolished. It's outdated, complicated, and inherently not democratic. Elections should be decided by the popular vote, period.
The 10th US CC of A decision helps move us incrementally toward a more democratic vote. Ultimately all eligible voters should be compelled, or at least feel a strong civic duty to vote. Since we’ve had two recent Presidential elections where the winner lost the popular vote and won due to Electoral Collage ( 2000 & 2016 ). The EC needs to go away.