High Court to Rule on ‘Faithless Electors’ in Presidential Vote

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide whether states can penalize members of the Electoral College if they refuse to vote for the presidential candidate who won the statewide vote, taking up an issue that could affect the outcome of a tight election.

Accepting cases from Washington and Colorado, the justices will consider whether electors have a constitutional right to vote as they please, even if that means bucking the will of the state’s voters.

The court will probably hear arguments in April and rule by late June, before the November presidential election. Litigants in the two cases had urged ...