December 20, 2022
Bipartisan Legislation Reforming the Electoral Count Act of 1887 is Cosponsored by 39 Senators
Manchin, Collins Secure ECA Reform in End of Year Bill
Bipartisan Legislation Reforming the Electoral Count Act of 1887 is Cosponsored by 39 Senators
Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV)
and Susan Collins (R-ME) announced that the Senate’s legislation to reform and
modernize the outdated Electoral Count Act of 1887 will be included in
the Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations bill. The omnibus will receive a
vote in the Senate this week.
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). “The Senate’s ECA reform effort is the result of nearly a year of
bipartisan negotiation, including numerous meetings and debates among our
colleagues as well as conversations with a wide variety of election experts and
legal scholars,” said Senators Manchin and Collins. “Our bipartisan
group worked tirelessly to draft this legislation that 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. We are pleased that our legislation has
been included in the Omnibus Appropriations bill and are grateful to have the
support of so many of our colleagues. We look forward to seeing this bill
signed into law.” In addition to Senators Manchin and Collins, the core group of
negotiators include: 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) and Ben Sasse (R-NE). The additional cosponsors include: Senators 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 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.
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