Colorado judge knocks down legal bid allowing faithless electors to vote for rival candidates

  •  A Colorado judge is ordering the state's nine electors to vote for Hillary Clinton
  • Two electors sued in hopes of being freed from requirement so they could join pick a compromise candidate who isn't Donald Trump
  • Long-shot effort aimed to deny Trump the presidency through the Electoral College that votes December 19
  • But Denver judge ruled that the state's electors will have to vote for Clinton; any who fail to do so can be replaced
  • Colorado law requires its electors to vote for the candidate who won the state's popular vote
  • Clinton won Colorado, though Trump won the majority of electoral votes last month

By Associated Press

Published: 21:22 EST, 13 December 2016 | Updated: 00:13 EST, 15 December 2016

Colorado's nine electors must vote for Hillary Clinton because she won the state's popular vote, a judge ruled on Tuesday.

The ruling is effectively stopping the state's electors from joining a long-shot effort to unite with Republicans behind a compromise presidential candidate other than Donald Trump.

Denver Judge Elizabeth Starrs also ruled that any electors who fail to do so can immediately be replaced when the Electoral College convenes on December 19. 

Colorado's nine electors must vote for Hillary Clinton (pictured last Thursday) because she won the state's popular vote, a judge ruled on Tuesday

The ruling is effectively stopping the state's electors from joining a long-shot effort to unite with Republicans behind a compromise presidential candidate other than Donald Trump

Starrs responded to a request from Colorado's secretary of state, who was seeking a way to prevent electors from diverging from the winner of the state's popular vote.

Electors Polly Baca and Robert Nemanich had sued to overturn a state law requiring them to vote for Clinton, but a federal judge refused to do so on Monday.

There are similar lawsuits in California and Washington state seeking to overturn laws binding electors. 

A total of 28 other states have laws binding their electors to the winner of the popular vote.

At least one other Colorado elector has said he will vote for someone other than Clinton in a bid to woo Republican electors to a different GOP candidate, such as Mitt Romney. 

Only one Republican elector nationally has publicly said he would do that.

Chris Jackson of the Colorado attorney general's office argued in court on Tuesday that the effort undermines democracy.

Electors Robert Nemanich (left) and Polly Baca (right) had sued to overturn a state law requiring them to vote for Clinton, but a federal judge refused to do so on Monday

Wayne Williams, Colorado's secretary of state, speaks after arguments in a lawsuit were heard on Monday outside the federal courthouse in downtown Denver

'What we're asking the court to do is protect against the chaos that would ensue from faithless electors failing to perform their state law duties,' he said.

Jesse Witt, an attorney for Baca and Nemanich, said he was disappointed at Starrs' ruling and may appeal.

'We feel it is an abridgement of free speech and free expression,' he said.

Earlier, Baca and Nemanich filed an emergency appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to try to get it to suspend the Colorado law. 

That comes after U.S. District Judge Wiley Daniel declined to put the law on hold on Monday and called the effort 'a political stunt.' 

'Part of me thinks this is really a political stunt to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president,' said Daniel, who was nominated to the bench by Bill Clinton in 1995.

If the Colorado electors had been successful, it could have signaled that similar laws in more than two dozen other states could also be overturned, freeing a large number of electors to defect from Trump.

Trump and Clinton pictured during a presidential debate in September. Trump won 306 electors last month, compared to Clinton's 232. He needed 270 to put him in the White House

It's unclear whether the appeals court will hear the case before the electors vote, but the state judge's order would still stand.

The Colorado electors could face up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine if they defy the law and vote for someone other than Clinton.

Trump won 306 electors last month, compared to Clinton's 232, and was well over the 270 needed to put him in the White House.

Meanwhile some electors continue their efforts to obtain information about possible Russian hacking during the presidential election before the Electoral College meets. 

Hawaii's four Democratic electors on Wednesday called on President Barack Obama to release a CIA report on the topic.

'The information contained in the report is essential to carrying out our constitutional obligation of casting our vote in an election that is free from tampering from outside entities,' the electors said, according to a statement released late Tuesday by one of Hawaii's electors, John Bickel.

The move follows a letter sent on Monday by 10 electors requesting information about ongoing investigations on ties between Trump and 'Russian government interference in the election.'

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