Group Of Three Senators Unveils Plan To Change Electoral Count Act

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Feb 1, 2022

Three senators have unveiled a new plan on Tuesday to make reforms to the Electoral Count Act, which includes a clarification that notes the vice president’s role in overseeing the official counting of the Electoral College is one that is purely ceremonial, according to The Hill.

The changes to the 1887 Electoral Count Act were brought up by Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin and Amy Klobuchar, along with independent Sen. Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats.

via Newsmax:

The proposal came after former President Donald Trump claimed on Sunday that former Vice President Mike Pence could have sent electoral votes from certain states back to their legislatures, thereby overturning the 2020 presidential election results.

“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?” former President Donald Trump went on to say  in a statement.

Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., also are working on their own reforms to the Electoral Count Act, The Hill noted.

Meanwhile, King, Durbin, and Klobuchar said the act must be changed.

“Experts across the political spectrum agree that the Electoral Count Act of 1887 needs to be updated to reflect the current realities and threats facing the United States and our election process,” senators said in a statement.

“In response, as leaders on the Senate Rules Committee with jurisdiction over federal elections and members of Senate Democratic leadership, we have been working with legal experts and election law scholars to develop legislation that would modernize the framework of the Electoral Count Act of 1887,” they continued.

The senators then stated that their proposal would:

 

  • Ensure that state legislatures cannot appoint electors after Election Day in an effort to overturn their state’s election results.
  • Provide limited judicial review to ensure that the electors, appointed by a state, reflect the popular vote results in the state.
  • Clarify that the vice president has no power to reject a state’s electors.