Today’s Links
Articles:
VOX – The bill that could make it harder to overturn an election
NPR – Proposed reforms for the Electoral Count Act draw broad support
New York Times – Bipartisan Senate Group Strikes Deal to Rewrite Electoral Count Act
Brennan Center – How to Fix the Electoral Count Act
Groups Taking Action:
Brennan Center, Protect Democracy, League of Women Voters
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
July 20th, the bipartisan Electoral Count Act was introduced in the U.S. Senate, and we’re going to spend some time this week examining the reforms it is proposing and what it will do – and not do – to protect our Presidential elections.
The apparent multi-pronged conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election rattled legal scholars and democracy advocates across the country. One of the elements of the alleged conspiracy was manipulating the electoral college system.
In our current version of the Electoral Count Act, passed in 1887, Congress receives the presidential election results in the January following the election from each state, and certifies the count. Now, it takes one U.S. Senator and one U.S. House member to object to a state’s count, then the House & Senate separately debate the merits of the objection.
The new changes to the Electoral Count Act just introduced, would require that two-fifth’s of a state’s federal legislators must object, for the objection to be considered in a vote – a higher bar.
The bill also defines the Vice President’s role as purely ceremonial, dispensing with the interpretation that the Vice President has the power to change the outcome of the election.
But what about the electors themselves? Who appoints them and how does the amendment to the Electoral Count Act change this? More in tomorrow’s segment, but in the meantime, check out articles on the Electoral Count Act at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.
Granny D said “Democracy is not something we have, it’s something we DO.” For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.