An attempt to bulletproof the certification of electoral votes against the next Trumpist Republican coup attempt passed the House yesterday:
The bill passed on a 229-203 vote, with just nine Republicans breaking ranks and joining Democrats in supporting the measure. None of those nine Republican lawmakers will be members of Congress next year — either because they lost their primaries or chose to retire.
The Presidential Election Reform Act, written by Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), explicitly cites the Capitol attack as a reason to amend the Electoral Count Act of 1887, “to prevent other future unlawful efforts to overturn Presidential elections and to ensure future peaceful transfers of Presidential power.” [snip]
The Presidential Election Reform Act would clearly reaffirm that the vice president has no role in validating a presidential election beyond acting as a figurehead who oversees the counting process, barring that person from changing the results. It also would expand the threshold necessary for members of both chambers to object to a state’s results, as well as clarify the role governors play in the process. Finally, it would make clear that state legislatures can’t change election rules retroactively to alter the results.
So, now it heads to the Senate, where:
Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) have introduced legislation in the Senate, the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, that differs from the House on the threshold for members of both chambers to object. Bipartisan support for the Senate bill is growing, with 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans co-sponsors as of Wednesday afternoon.
Somehow, in some form that will plug holes in the current electoral count process, we think a bill will pass and be signed by the President, if only by the barest margin in the Senate. But, we'll see.
