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Today’s Links
Articles:
Lawfare – Correcting Misconceptions About the Electoral Count Reform Act
Brennan Center for Justice – How to Fix the Electoral Count Act
Slate – The New Bipartisan Bill to Prevent Another Jan. 6 Would Actually Work

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

As we noted yesterday, a reform for the Electoral Count Act introduced last week in the U.S. Senate clarifies that the governor must appoint the slate of presidential electors.  But how does this new proposal protect against, theoretically speaking of course, a governor who is an election-denier? 

An analysis in the online journal Lawfare, written by former Obama White House Counsel Bob Bauer,  and Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith, argues that the reform does include additional safeguards.  It takes out the vague responsibilities in the 1887 rules about an “Executive of State” and clarifies it to be the Governor or the official responsible for the state’s elections.   The Governor must follow state laws enacted before the election.  And now, he or she must complete the certification six days before the electoral college.   

Bauer and Goldsmith also say that the reform bill establishes a path for the courts, first state and then federal, should a rogue governor or chief election official stray from the rules. It also specifies that this judicial remedy should be expedited so as to not slow down the electoral college process.

While there are criticisms that the reforms could be stronger in some areas of the  Electoral Count Reform Act, Bauer, Goldsmith and the majority of other scholars praise the bipartisan bill and say it would make our elections more resistant to bad actors.

Check out more 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.