Washington state’s ‘faithless’ electors are paying the price for defying voters
Three of the four Washington state electoral college voters who went rogue in December have lost their appeals over $1,000 fines for writing in the names of Colin Powell and Faith Spotted Eagle as America’s next president.
They plan to appeal the administrative decision, said their attorney, Sumeer Singla, challenging the constitutionality of the statute that required them to vote for another non-winner, Hillary Clinton.
She should have received all 13 electoral votes in Washington, one of 29 states where electors are bound by law or pledge to vote for the state’s popular vote winner. Other states divvy up the votes proportionally.
“We need to get through the administrative [process] to argue constitutional questions in front of an appellate court,” Singla said. “We anticipate an appeal to address the constitutional question.”
His clients, electors Levi Guerra, Esther John and Peter Chiafolo, all voted for Powell, who wasn’t running, in a protest triggered by Donald Trump’s abrasive and untraditional campaign.
Chiafolo, who called himself a “conscientious elector,” said Trump epitomized the need for a way to break tradition and vote freely.
The fourth rogue voter, Native American activist Bob Satiacum Jr., a radio host who also conducts peyote and sweat lodge rituals, will face a hearing next week and seems equally adamant about changing the 212-year-old electoral system.
“I’m not going to pay the state a dime,” Satiacum said in an interview. He cast the vote for Faith Spotted Eagle, a member of the Yankton Sioux Nation who helped block development of the Keystone XL and the Dakota Access pipelines — and is the only female Native American to receive an electoral vote for president.
“It’s a federal election with different rules from state to state,” Satiacum said. “How can they fine me with their own system all messed up?”
Donald Trump, who lost the popular vote in Washington state, wound up with zero electoral votes there. Clinton drew support from 57% of the state’s voters.
Trump also lost the popular vote nationwide. But he nailed the vote that counted, winning 304 electoral votes to Clinton’s 227.
In all, there were seven so-called faithless electors: the four in Washington, plus two in Texas and one in Hawaii.
On Wednesday, Administrative Law Judge Robert C. Krabill found no problems with a law that allows the secretary of state to level civil penalties against electors who vote for candidates that were not nominated by the elector’s party.
He felt, however, he didn’t have the authority to rule on the constitutional question of demanding that electors vote as the state tells them to.
Chiafolo, a 37-year-old Microsoft employee and co-founder of Hamilton Electors, which seeks to change the electoral process, said he wanted to eliminate the electoral college.
Anderson is a special correspondent.
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