September 22, 2022

Manchin, Collins Announce 22 Senators Now Cosponsoring Bipartisan Electoral Count Act Reform

Washington, DC — Today, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Susan Collins (R-ME) announced the addition of Senators Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) as cosponsors of the legislation to reform and modernize the outdated Electoral Count Act of 1887. The bipartisan Senate bill now has 22 cosponsors and will receive a markup and be voted on by the Senate Rules Committee on Tuesday, September 27th.

“We are delighted that bipartisan support continues to grow for the Senate’s sensible and much-needed reforms to the Electoral Count Act of 1887,” said Senators Manchin and Collins. “Our bill is backed by election law experts and organizations across the ideological spectrum. We will keep working to increase bipartisan support for our legislation that would correct the flaws in this archaic and ambiguous law.”
 
Senators Manchin and Collins are joined as cosponsors by Senators 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), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Pat Toomey (R-PA), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH).
 
On July 20, 2022, Senators Manchin and Collins introduced the bipartisan Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act to update the outdated Electoral Count Act of 1887. Last month, Senators Manchin and Collins provided remarks before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration on the importance of the legislation. On September 14, Congressmen Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) and Fred Upton (MI-6) introduced the House companion to the Senate legislation. 
 
The bill 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 This section would reform and modernize the outdated Electoral Count Act of 1887 to ensure that electoral votes tallied by Congress accurately reflect each state’s vote for President.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.
 
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.