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: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.Article II, Section 1, Clause 2
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: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.Article II, Section 1, Clause 2
Correct, the state shall appoint the electors, but it doesnt say that the state is allowed to say how the electoral votes are cast, that is for the states general election.
What colorado, and other states are trying to do is bypass the electoral college and force the electors of those states to vote against the voters wishes. It's essentially the legislature saying "we are going to delegate our electoral votes, not the citizens", basically removing the elector process.
When someone votes, they are not voting for a president, they are actually voting on a slate of electors which are chosen by the parties they represent. What these compact states are doing is removing the legally voted slate of electors, and placing their own in its place, or at least forcing them to vote against their wishes which really equates to election fraud when you think about it, because they are trying to alter the wishes of the people, and thus alter the election results. This is no different than someone stealing a ballot box and changing all the votes.
For all states entering this compact, they have completely sidestepped the whole reason for the electoral college, and run the risk of negating their electors. For these states, their electoral vote count should be reduced to zero.