Can state legislatures appoint electors to vote for a different candidate than their state's voters chose?

State legislatures cannot alter their electors after a presidential election. Each state's political parties nominate electors the preceding spring or summer, typically selecting loyal party members who are pledged (and in some states legally bound) to support their nominee.

Voters cast ballots for a slate of electors committed to that candidate when they make their choice for president. (In Nebraska and Maine, the statewide winner gets two electors, and the winner in each congressional district gets one elector.) Once the election results are determined, the legislature is bound to their choice.

The only time an elector has cast a vote for the opposite party's candidate in a close election was in 1796.

In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that states may require their electors to vote for their party's candidate and may retract and replace their votes if they go rogue.