faithless elector

noun

plural faithless electors

: an elector who votes in the electoral college for a candidate other than the one who won the popular vote in the elector's state

The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously upheld laws across the country that remove or punish rogue Electoral College delegates who refuse to cast their votes for the presidential candidate they were pledged to support. The decision Monday was a loss for "faithless electors," who argued that under the Constitution they have discretion to decide which candidate to support.

—Nina Totenberg

Examples of faithless elector in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But Brown emphasized that some states would need to adjust their faithless electors laws to allow for this. —Oren Oppenheim, ABC News, 8 Jan. 2024

In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that faithless electors could not vote against the will of the state. —Houston Keene, Fox News, 21 Apr. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1928, in the meaning defined above