Article II, Section 1: "Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress..."
It appears to me that the letter of the Constitution says that the states may assign their electoral votes anyway they please.
True. I do seem to remember there being some kind of problem with states making agreements with each other in this regard (i.e. it only takes effect if certain other states pass it), but I can't put my finger on it right now.
This California popular vote ‘referendum’ would be over-turned, properly, by the U.S. Supreme Court. The power to decided the allocation of Presidential and Vice-Presidential Electors was given exclusively to the State Legislature, period. A popular referendum is NOT an act of the State Legislature.
The power to appoint, select or hold elections for Electors belongs to the Legislature of the States - it remains one of the last State Powers that has not been gutted by the Federal Government or Amendment.
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