September 21, 2022

Manchin, Capito Announce 10 Democrat, 10 Republican Cosponsors for Bipartisan Electoral Count Act Reform

Washington, DC — Today, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) announced their bipartisan Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act now has 10 Democrat and 10 Republican cosponsors in the Senate. The legislation will ensure the electoral votes tallied by Congress accurately reflect each state’s vote for President and will promote a peaceful transition of power between the outgoing and incoming President.

“I am pleased that bipartisan support for this critical legislation continues to grow,” said Senator Manchin. “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, and today’s announcement marks a significant step in the right direction. I encourage all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support these much-needed, commonsense reforms, and we will continue our bipartisan efforts to get the bill signed into law.”

Senators Manchin and Capito were joined as cosponsors by Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), 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), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Todd Young (R-IN), Chris Coons (D-DE), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Alex Padilla (D-CA).

“I am proud to be an original member of the bipartisan reform group, which drafted and introduced the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act,” Senator Capito said. “This legislation will modernize and streamline the transmission and counting of electoral votes for Presidential elections, and I am encouraged by growing bipartisan support for this common sense effort. As a member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, I actively participated in a hearing on this legislation, and I look forward to our committee markup next week to move this bill one step closer to becoming law.”

The Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act includes the following provisions:
 
1)   Electoral Count Reform Act: This section would reform and modernize the outdated Electoral Count Act of 1887 to ensure that electoral votes tallied by Congress accurately reflect each state’s vote for President. It would replace ambiguous provisions of the 19th-century law with clear procedures that maintain appropriate state and federal roles in selecting the President and Vice President of the United States as set forth in the U.S. Constitution.
 
2)   Presidential Transition Improvement Act: This section would help to promote the orderly transfer of power by providing clear guidelines for when eligible candidates for President or Vice President may receive federal resources to support their transition into office.

On July 20, 2022, Senators Manchin and Capito introduced the bipartisan Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act to update the outdated Electoral Count Act of 1887. Last month, Senator Manchin spoke before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration on the importance of the legislation.
 
A one-pager on the Electoral Count Reform Act is available here.
A one-pager on the Presidential Transition Improvement Act is available here.
The full text of the legislation is available here.