Senators Drafting Bipartisan Reforms to Electoral Count Act

What’s the story?

• A bipartisan group of senators led by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) are drafting a bill to reform the Electoral Count Act (ECA) of 1887 in an effort to remove ambiguities in the process for counting and certifying the electoral results so that they can’t be exploited in an effort to reverse the results of a presidential election. 
• Lawmakers are considering reforms which would clarify that the vice president’s role in presiding over Congress’s certification of electoral votes is merely ceremonial and they lack the authority to change results; in addition to increasing the threshold by which challenges to electoral results can be raised, which currently just requires one lawmaker each in the House and Senate to object to force votes on the matter in both chambers.
• Such challenges have been brought up on several occasions following recent elections, most recently on January 6, 2021, when some House and Senate Republicans objected to electoral results in Arizona and Pennsylvania at the behest of then-President Donald Trump, who made false claims of widespread election fraud. The electoral certification was interrupted by pro-Trump rioters who stormed the Capitol and were angry at Vice President Mike Pence for refusing Trump’s request that he overturn the election results. When the joint session of Congress reconvened, those challenges were ultimately rejected by broadly bipartisan votes in both chambers. 
• Democrats raised objections to results when the electoral certification occurred following GOP victories in 2001, 2005, and 2017, but were only successful in forcing a vote to contest the Ohio election results in 2005 that would’ve resulted in Democratic nominee John Kerry winning the presidency. That challenge was also rejected with bipartisan support in both chambers.
• It’s unclear how quickly the group, which includes at least 16 senators, will agree to the final legislative text of the package and put it forward for consideration. Manchin told reporters on Monday that the bill is “on a hot track” and could be released “pretty quick.” Collins indicated that the group’s plan is to send the bill to the Senate Rules Committee and added she has kept Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Ranking Member Roy Blunt (R-MO) informed about the bill.
• Additional election-related provisions may be tacked onto the bill before it reaches the Senate floor, including protection for election workers and officials, voting practices and rights, and the Election Assistance Commission; although it’s unclear what will have enough bipartisan support to be included.

Which senators are involved?

• Aside from Manchin, Democrats involved in the effort include Sens. Ben Cardin (D-MD), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), and Mark Warner (D-VA).
• Aside from Collins, Republicans involved in the effort include Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Steven Daines (R-MT), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Rob Portman (R-OH), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Roger Wicker (R-MS).

What they’re saying

• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Republican Whip John Thune (R-SD) have signaled support for the bipartisan effort. McConnell said he’s “happy to take a look at what they come up with” because the Electoral Count Act “clearly is flawed.” Thune added: 

“The role of the vice president needs to be clarified, so it’s clear what that is… There’s some question about how many senators or House members it ought to take to object before it triggers a vote.” 

• On the anniversary of the January 6th riot, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on the Senate floor that reforming the Electoral Count Act without passing Democrats’ partisan election reform bills in tandem “is unacceptably insufficient and even offensive”:

“Some say the answer lies in doing the bare minimum, like reforming the Electoral Count Act that my friend the Republican Leader has floated in recent days. Let me take this opportunity to make clear that that plan, the McConnell Plan, that’s what it is, is unacceptably insufficient and even offensive. Scorekeeping matters little if the game is rigged.”

• Despite his previous strong criticism of the bipartisan effort to reform the Electoral Count Act, Schumer is reportedly now open to allowing that plan or a similar Democrat-led effort to get a vote after the broader, partisan election reforms stalled in the Senate. Schumer called Electoral Count Act reforms “fine” in an interview but said the Democrats’ more ambitious bills would have a greater impact on 2022.
• Former President Donald Trump released a statement Sunday in which he repeated his false claims and insisted that Vice President Pence had the ability to change the presidential election results during the certification process:

“If the Vice President (Mike Pence) had “absolutely no right” to change the Presidential Election results in the Senate, despite fraud and many other irregularities, how come the Democrats and RINO Republicans, like Wacky Susan Collins, are desperately trying to pass legislation that will not allow the Vice President to change the results of the election? Actually, what they are saying, is that Mike Pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they now want to take that right away. Unfortunately, he didn’t exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!”

• Collins responded to Trump’s comments on Monday, telling reporters:

“President Trump’s comments underscored the need for us to revise the Electoral Count Act because they demonstrated the confusion in the law and the fact that it is ambiguous.”

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: iStock.com / Elisank79)