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Are there consequences for being a faithless elector?
In 2019, the state changed its law for future elections, to void faithless votes and replace the respective electors instead of fining them. In California a faithless elector may face a fine or imprisonment for up to 3 years for casting a faithless vote.
How did the Supreme Court rule on faithless electors?
Washington, 591 U.S. ___ (2020), was a United States Supreme Court case on the issue of “faithless electors” in the Electoral College stemming from the 2016 United States presidential election. The Court ruled unanimously that states have the ability to enforce an elector’s pledge in presidential elections.
When was the last case of faithless electors?
In the modern era, faithless electors are rarer still, and have never determined the outcome of a presidential election. There has been one faithless elector in each of the following elections: 1948, 1956, 1960, 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1988.
What is a faithless elector?
“Faithless elector” is a term used to describe a member of the Electoral College who does not vote for his or her party’s nominee for president or vice president. One argument against the use of the term “faithless elector” is that it suggests that all electors are legally required to vote for their party’s nominee.
How many presidential votes have been casted by faithless electors?
Sixty-three of the 90 faithless presidential votes (70%) in US history occurred in 1872 when Democratic candidate Horace Greeley died after the general election but before the electoral vote. Greeley had earned 66 electoral votes; after his death, three pledged electors still voted for him, although Congress rejected those three electoral votes.
What happened to Minnesota’s faithless electors?
After an unknown elector was faithless in 2004, Minnesota amended its law to require public balloting of the electors’ votes and invalidate any vote cast for someone other than the candidate to whom the elector was pledged.
Which states have voided faithless electors?
Colorado was the first state to void an elector’s attempted faithless vote during the 2016 electoral college vote. Minnesota also invoked this law for the first time in 2016 when an elector pledged to Hillary Clinton attempted to vote for Bernie Sanders instead. Until 2008, Minnesota’s electors cast secret ballots.