Status of 2016 faithless presidential elector litigation

One year ago, December 19, 2016, an unprecedented number of faithless electors intentionally cast (or attempted to cast) votes for candidates other than those they pledged to support, either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Congress ultimately decided to count all the electoral votes as cast.

But some of these faithless (or would-be faithless) electors sued, and the litigation remains ongoing. Much like my tracking of "natural born" citizen lawsuits, I thought I'd share the status of faithless elector litigation.

California: an elector wanted to cast a vote for someone other than Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine but ultimately voted for them.

Vinzenz Koller: lawsuit filed, Koller v. Brown (N.D. Cal. 2016-cv-07069), motion to dismiss granted Apr. 20, 2018

Colorado: two electors threatened to vote for candidates other than Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine but ultimately voted for them. A third attempted to vote for John Kasich, but his vote was not counted, he was removed for failure to act.

Michael Baca, Polly Baca, & Robert Nemanich: lawsuit filed, Baca v. Colorado Department of State (D. Colo. 17-cv-01937), motion to dismiss granted Apr. 10, 2018, appeal filed (10th Cir. 18-1173), argued Jan. 24, 2019; reversed, Aug. 20, 2019.

Minnesota: an elector attempted to vote for Bernie Sanders instead of Hillary Clinton and was replaced.

Muhammad Abdurrahman: complaint dismissed as moot (D. Minn. 16-cv-04279); appeal filed (8th Cir. 16-4551), Abdurrahman v. Swanson, affirmed Sept. 12, 2018.

Washington: four faithless electors were each fined $1000 for casting votes for candidates other than Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine. The state administrative appeals are here.

Robert Satiacum: administrative order became final June 13, 2017.

Levi Guerra, Esther John, & Peter Chiafalo: federal lawsuit (W.D. Wash. 16-cv-01886) voluntarily dismissed; state administrative appeal to Thurston County Superior Court, Docket No. 17-2-02446-34; Guerra v. State Office of Administrative Hearings, affirmed, Dec. 8, 2017; appeal filed with Supreme Court (No. 953473), brief filed Aug. 10, 2018, argued Jan. 22, 2019; affirmed, May 23, 2019.