The House will begin voting on Wednesday Electoral Counting Law Reform BillAnother resistance effort by Rep. Liz Cheney and others January 6, 2021When pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the counting of electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election.
The Presidential Election Reform Act, sponsored by Cheney and fellow committee member Rep. Joe Lofgren on Jan. 6, requires Congress to receive an electoral certificate from each state that accurately reflects the will of the electorate, requiring Congress to count electoral votes as constitutional. After calling on Mike Pence to “reject the fraudulently elected electors,” and reaffirming that the vice president’s role in approving electoral votes is merely ministerial. Pence refused, saying he had no authority to do so.
The bill increases the limit on any objection made in the House or Senate to a state electoral vote from one member of each chamber to one-third of the members of each chamber.
The bill is expected to pass the House, although it is unclear how much Republican support it will receive. House GOP leaders are encouraging Republican members to vote against the bill. The measure must still pass the Senate before being signed by President Biden.
The first vote on the Presidential Election Reform Act took place on Wednesday; The timing of the bill’s final passage vote has not yet been announced.
“What Donald Trump tried to convince the vice president to do was illegal under existing law, and we start by affirming that, but then we have to take steps to make sure that January 6 is something that never happens again,” Cheney said on the call Tuesday. .
In the Senate, Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin announced Wednesday that a similar bill, the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, now has 10 GOP cosponsors and 10 Democratic cosponsors. The fact that 10 Republicans are signing on as co-sponsors indicates that there is enough support to pass the bill in the Senate.
“We are pleased to see growing bipartisan support for this sensible and much-needed reform of the Election Counting Act of 1887,” Manchin and Collins said in a statement Wednesday. “Our bill is supported by election law experts and organizations across the ideological spectrum. We will continue to work to build bipartisan support for our legislation that will correct the flaws in this antiquated and ambiguous law.”
— Rebecca Kaplan contributed to this report
Catherine Watson
