Colorado Department of State v. Baca

In the 2016 presidential election, Colorado elector Micheal Baca attempted to cast his vote for John Kasich instead of Hillary Clinton, who won the state's popular vote. Colorado removed him and replaced him according to state law. Baca challenged the constitutionality of binding electors. The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, consolidated with Chiafalo v. Washington. On July 6, 2020, the Court unanimously held that the Constitution does not prevent states from requiring electors to pledge support for the state's popular-vote winner and from enforcing that pledge through removal or penalty. The decision affirmed a long-standing historical practice.

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that states have the authority to enforce an elector's pledge and may penalize or replace faithless electors. The lower court's judgment against Colorado was reversed.

Whether a state may constitutionally enforce a presidential elector's pledge to vote for the state's popular-vote winner by removing or penalizing a faithless elector.

The ruling reinforced the stability and predictability of the Electoral College, significantly reducing the risk that faithless electors could alter election outcomes. It affirmed states' power to administer presidential elections and clarified a previously unsettled constitutional question, ensuring that electors serve as faithful agents of their state's voters.