Electors sue Secretary Wayne Williams. Again.
DENVER, August 15, 2017 -- Two Colorado presidential electors announced today they are suing Secretary of State Wayne Williams, saying his refusal to allow them to vote for someone other than the presidential winner in Colorado violated their constitutional rights.
The lawsuit comes just 12 days after the same two electors, Polly Baca of Denver and Robert Nemanich of Colorado Springs, dismissed a similar claim that they had filed in U.S. District Court in Denver. The pair lost their preliminary hearing in that court case.
"Polly Baca and Robert Nemanich believed the special circumstances of the last election required that they vote their conscience, contrary to a pre-election pledge," attorney Lawrence Lessing announced in a news release from the group Equal Citizens. "Secretary Williams took the egregious step of threatening them with removal, as well as criminal prosecution, if they did so."
But Williams noted he was following a ruling from a Denver District Court judge.
"The question of removal was directly raised in the state court and the judge ordered that an elector who does not vote as Coloradans voted can be removed. That binding decision was appealed by these same two electors, and their appeal was denied by the Colorado Supreme Court," Williams said.
"According to the binding court decisions faithless electors can be removed, which preserves the votes of the nearly three million Coloradans who cast their ballots in the November election. The only thing I asked the electors to do was follow the law."
Deputy Secretary of State Suzanne Staiert called the timing of the suit curious, considering the electors had just dismissed their own lawsuit.
Colorado's nine presidential electors -- all Democrats -- met at the state Capitol on Dec. 19 to vote for the winning presidential candidate, as required under state law. Democrat Hillary Clinton took 48.16 percent of the vote in Colorado to Republican Donald J. Trump's 43.25 percent. Nationally, she won the popular vote, but Trump won the Electoral College vote.
The electoral process in 2016 attracted national attention because of efforts to try to deny Trump the presidency. Baca and Nemanich and six other electors voted for Clinton during the electoral vote at the state Capitol. Another elector who did not was removed, and replaced by someone who voted for Clinton.
