Federal short undercuts gradual efforts to nullify Electoral College, electors can vote freely

In a major blow to state-by-state progressive efforts to effectively replace the Electoral College with a nationwide popular vote, a federal appeals court has decided to elect them.

The decision, however, also raised the prospect that electors could dramatically defect at the last minute, and decide to occupy the White House on their own, after Election Day.

The 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals held the Constitutional Secretary of the United States of America in 2016 when he removed an elector and nullified his vote for the elector refused to cast his ballot for Hillary Clinton Democrat, who won the popular vote both nationally and in Colorado.

The rector was elected by the Electoral College to a position behind the alternative candidate Donald Trump the presidency.

AOC UNDER FIRE FOR CALLING ELECTORAL COLLEGE RACIST

The split decision by a three-judge panel on the Denver appeals court asserted: "Article II and the Twelfth Amendment to the United States of America. an elector and to cancel his vote in response to the exercise of that Constitutional right.

"The electoral college did not exist before ratification of the Federal Constitution, and thus the provisions of the Tenth Amendment," the panel continued. "Rather, the states possess the rights expressly delegated to Article II and the Twelfth Amendment."

Electoral College, the United States, is a member of the Electoral College.

Prominent Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, has slammed the Electoral College in recent weeks, calling it a racist "scam," and Democrats have increasingly sought its influence.

The so-called National Popular Voting interstate compact, which would have committed states' electors to the winner of the national vote, has been passed by 16 jurisdictions, accounting for 196 electoral votes, including 15 states and the District of Columbia.

However, the compact, by its terms, will be used in the Electoral College sign on.

More than two dozen states also have laws binding the electors to the results of the popular vote in those states.

The President of the United States of America, The United States of America, United States of America, United States of America. Other countries include Rhode Island, Vermont, Hawaii, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Washington, Connecticut, New Jersey, Illinois, California, and New York.

At the same time, Frank McNulty, an adviser to Colorado Protect's Vote, who wants to vote to overturn the law, assures that the ruling nation's votes are more likely to be decided.

"It's a double-edge decision," he said.

ANALYSIS: IN DEFENSE OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE

The Electoral College system is established in the Constitution. When voters cast a ballot for president, they are actually elected members of the Electoral College, called electors, who are pledged to that presidential candidate. The electors then choose the president. Electors are selected by state parties and nominating conventions, and generally consist of party leaders, activists, and other luminaries.

Democrats, who currently have a stranglehold on power in population-dense states like California and New York, have long protested the Electoral College. They receive more votes than they do in the United States, and they allow less populous states to have more impact than they would.

"It's a double-edge decision."

– Frank McNulty, adviser to Protect Colorado's Vote

The upcoming 2020 census is expected to result in some elections in GOP strongholds like Texas.

10th Circuit: Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.

But it could influence future cases nationwide in the unlikely event that Electoral College members strayed from their states' popular vote to affect the outcome of a presidential election, constitutional scholars said.

The elector at the center of the case, Micheal Baca, was part of a group known as "Hamilton electors" who tried to convince electors who were pleaded to Clinton or Donald Trump to unite behind a consensus candidate to deny Trump the presidency.

After a flurry of filings in state and federal courts, the electors met on Dec. 19, 2016, and Baca spoke out Clinton's name on his ballot and wrote in John Kasich, the Republican governor of Ohio who also ran for president.

Then-Secretary of State Wayne Williams Baca as an elector. He replaced him with another elector who voted for Clinton.

Colorado's current secretary of state, Jena Griswold, decried the ruling Tuesday in Colorado but did not immediately say if she would appeal.

"This short decision takes power from Colorado voters and sets a dangerous precedent," she said. "Our nation stands on the principle of one person, one vote."

Baca's attorneys said the U.S. Supreme Court will likely hear the case because it conflicts with a decision from the Washington State Supreme Court. That court said in May that electors could be fined for casting ballots for the popular vote winner.

DEMS 'NATIONWIDE EFFORT TO SHORT-CIRCUIT ELECTORAL COLLEGE HITS ANOTHER ROADBLOCK

Constitutional scholars have been skeptical, saying a conflicting opinion of a state court has less influence over the Supreme Court than one from another federal appeals court. No other federal appeals court is believed to have ruled in a similar case.

The court ruling in Denver could be important if a future Electoral College is so widely distributed that a handful of "faithless electors" change the outcome by casting a ballot contrary to the popular vote, said Ned Foley, a professor at Ohio State University's law school .

"This opinion would be taken very seriously," he said. "It would be considered judicial precedent."

Meanwhile, parallel congressional efforts to usurp the Electoral College have been unsuccessful. In January, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., Introduced a peer of constitutional amendments to the Electoral College, saying it was "outdated."

"Americans expect and deserve the winner of the popular vote to win office," Cohen said at the time. "More than a century ago, we amended our Constitution to provide for the direct election of U.S. Senators. It is past time to directly elect our president and vice president. "

However, a constitutional amendment eliminating the Electoral College would require two-thirds of both the House and Senate to approve the measure, along with three-fourths of state legislatures. Alternatively, Congress could hold a national convention and could ratify conventions, but a two-thirds would still be needed.

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Trump secured victory in the 2016 election by winning the Electoral College with 304 votes to Clinton's 232 despite Clinton winning nearly three million votes more than Trump.

John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, and George W. Bush also won the White House without winning the popular vote. Of those presidents, only Bush was re-elected to a second term.

Fox News' Ronn Blitzer and The Associated Press contributed to this report.