Originally published on October 16, 2019 4:14 pm
Colorado is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case that could have big implications for future presidential elections.
Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Attorney General Phil Weiser are hoping the nation's highest court will decide that presidential electors must follow state laws that require them to vote for the candidate who wins the most votes in the state.
The legal challenge comes after the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in August that former Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams was wrong to remove a presidential elector who refused to cast a vote for Hillary Clinton, who won the state's popular vote in 2016.
Colorado law dictates presidential electors must vote for the candidate who gets the most votes.
Griswold said Wednesday the appeals court's ruling "undermines voters and sets a dangerous precedent for our nation."
"When Coloradans cast their votes, they expect them to be counted," she said. "With our democracy under constant attack we should be empowering voters to participate, not dissuading them."
Griswold and Weiser want the Supreme Court to take up the case before the 2020 election.
They aren't the only ones looking to the Supreme Court to bring clarity to the issue.
A group of presidential electors in Washington are also asking the court to weigh in after they were fined for voting for Colin Powell instead of Clinton in the 2016 election.
Capitol Coverage is a collaborative public policy reporting project, providing news and analysis to communities across Colorado for more than a decade. Eleven public radio stations participate in Capitol Coverage from throughout Colorado.
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