
A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation designed to prevent a repeat of efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election.
One of the two bills proposed on Wednesday would update the Electoral Count Act of 1887 to “ensure that electoral votes tallied by Congress accurately reflect each state’s vote” and to replace unclear language clarifying the roles of federal and state officials in certifying presidential elections. The Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act would also establish guidelines for a peaceful transfer of power by providing federal resources to the president- and vice president-elect.
“From the beginning, our bipartisan group has shared a vision of drafting legislation to fix the flaws of the archaic and ambiguous Electoral Count Act of 1887,” the senators said in a joint statement. “Through numerous meetings and debates among our colleagues as well as conversations with a wide variety of election experts and legal scholars, we have developed legislation that establishes clear guidelines for our system of certifying and counting electoral votes for President and Vice President. We urge our colleagues in both parties to support these simple, commonsense reforms.”
This bill was co-sponsored by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Rob Portman (R-OH), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mark Warner (D-VA), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Todd Young (R-IN), Chris Coons (D-DE), Ben Sasse (R-NE), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).