Electoral College members file voter 'intimidation' lawsuit against Colorado's secretary of state

Two members of Colorado’s Electoral College class of 2016 have filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Wayne Williams saying the Republican intimidated them into casting votes for Hillary Clinton in December.

The plaintiffs in the suit are former lawmaker Polly Baca and Colorado Springs math teacher Bob Nemanich. Nationally known Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig, a political activist who briefly ran for president in 2016 on a campaign finance reform platform, filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Colorado this week.

The latest legal action again shines a national spotlight on the role of the Electoral College and how a Colorado elector made history last year when he broke with state law and tradition by casting his vote for someone other than the state’s popular vote winner. The lawsuit aims to determine once and for all whether the 538 members of the Electoral College can vote for whomever they want in future presidential elections, or if they should be bound by state laws that tell them how to cast their votes.

In Colorado, Baca and Nemanich were part of a small movement among the nation’s 538 members of the Electoral College who hatched a plan to try and keep Donald Trump from the White House. They wanted to deny Trump the 270 Electoral College votes he needed to take office.

Read more: http://www.coloradoindependent.com/166682/electoral-college-members-file-voter-intimidation-lawsuit-against-colorados-secretary-of-state