December 30, 2022

Manchin, Collins' Historic ECA Reform Signed Into Law

Bipartisan Legislation Reforming the Electoral Count Act of 1887 is Cosponsored by 39 Senators

Charleston, WV – Today, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Susan Collins (R-ME) announced that their legislation to reform and modernize the outdated Electoral Count Act of 1887 was signed into law last night as part of the Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations bill. 

 

The bipartisan legislation has 39 Senate cosponsors, including Senate Leaders Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Rules Committee Chairman Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Ranking Member Roy Blunt (R-MO).

 

“After nearly a year of bipartisan negotiations, we are delighted that the Senate’s ECA reform is now law,” said Senators Manchin and Collins.  “We were grateful to have the support of so many of our colleagues.  Through numerous meetings and debates among Senators, along with conversations with a wide variety of election experts and legal scholars, we reached consensus on an historic piece of legislation. This law fixes the flaws of the archaic and ambiguous Electoral Count Act of 1887 and establishes clear guidelines for our system of certifying and counting electoral votes for President and Vice President.”

 

In addition to Senators Manchin and Collins, the core group of negotiators include: Rob Portman (R-OH), Kyrsten Sinema (I-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), and Ben Sasse (R-NE).

 

The additional cosponsors include: Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Thune (R-SD), John Cornyn (R-TX), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Tom Carper (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Richard Burr (R-NC), Gary Peters (D-MI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Angus King (I-ME), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV).

 

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1)   Electoral Count Reform Act: This section would reform and modernize the outdated Electoral Count Act of 1887 to ensure that electoral votes tallied by Congress accurately reflect each state’s vote for President.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.

 

A timeline of Senators Manchin’s work to reform the Electoral Count Act of 1887:

 

  • On December 20, 2022, Senators Manchin and Collins announced their Electoral Count Act of 1887 will be included in the Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations bill.
  • On September 30, 2022, Senators Manchin and Collins announced their bipartisan Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act now has 32 cosponsors in the Senate.
  • On September 28, 2022, Senator Manchin applauded the 14-1 vote in the Senate Rules Committee to advance the bipartisan Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act.
  • On September 22, 2022, Senators Manchin and Collins announced the addition of two more Senators as cosponsors of the legislation to reform and modernize the outdated Electoral Count Act of 1887, bringing the total to 22 cosponsors.
  • On September 21, 2022, Senator Manchin announced the bipartisan Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act had secured 10 Democrat and 10 Republican cosponsors in the Senate.
  • On August 3, 2022, Senator Manchin spoke before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration on the importance of the legislation.
  • On July 20, 2022, Senator Manchin introduced the bipartisan Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act to update the outdated Electoral Count Act of 1887.

 

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.