Can Clinton Still Win? Colorado Electors Sue To Overturn State Law Requiring Them To Vote For Winner Of Popular Vote

Two Colorado electors filed suit Tuesday in federal court, challenging a state law requiring them to vote for the winner of the popular vote when the Electoral College meets in less than two weeks.

Polly Baca, a former legislator, and Robert Nemanich are Democratic electors — two of the state’s nine electors — who say they want to “vote their conscience,” their attorney, Jason Wesoky, told the Denver Post.

Republican Donald Trump needs 270 electoral votes to be confirmed as president. Unofficial election results indicate he has 306 but is trailing Democrat Hillary Clinton in the popular vote by 2.6 million ballots.

Colorado voters favored Clinton.

Baca and Nemanich are members of the so-called Moral Electors movement, which is seeking to block a Trump presidency, suggesting electors vote for a different Republican candidate to throw the election into the U.S. House. A third Colorado elector, Michael Baca is working with electors in other states.

There is no federal law that requires electors to vote for the winner of the popular vote, but 29 states and the District of Columbia do impose such a requirement, Colorado among them. Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams, a Republican, has said he would replace any faithless electors and sharply criticized any who would switch their votes, “arrogant.”

“The very notion of two Colorado electors ignoring Colorado’s popular vote in an effort to sell their vote to electors in other states is odious to everything we hold dear about the right to vote,” Williams said.

“Though Hillary Clinton and Timothy Kaine won the majority vote in Colorado and are qualified for office, plaintiffs cannot be constitutionally compelled to vote for them,” the lawsuit states. “Plaintiffs are entitled to exercise their judgment and free will to vote for whomever they believe to be the most qualified and fit for the offices of president and vice president, whether those candidates are Democrats, Republicans or from a third-party.”

The suit challenges the state law based on the First, 12th and 14th amendments.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who sought the Republican presidential nomination but dropped out during the primaries, has been mentioned as an alternative to Trump but tweeted a statement Tuesday urging electors not to vote for him.

A Change.org petition calling on electors not to support Trump has gained nearly 4.8 million signatures since it was filed Nov. 10.

The Electoral College meets Dec. 19.