Congress must also pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. All three pieces of federal legislation are essential to protect our democracy.
Press ReleaseJuly 26, 2022
Business for Democracy Campaign Supports Electoral Count Act Reform Legislation
(Columbia, SC)—Today six Business for Democracy state collaboratives sent letters to their U.S. Senators asking support of the bi-partisan Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022 that was filed last week. The six state collaboratives are in Arizona, California, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.
The letters included the following message:
Protecting our democracy is a top priority of small business owners. They know that there can be no vibrant entrepreneurial economy without a strong democracy. One only needs to look at the weak economies of autocratic nations for proof.
Modernizing the Electoral Count Act to address the 1887 Act’s ambiguities regarding the federal role in selecting the President and Vice President is clearly necessary. The now widely recognized undemocratic efforts to deny the American voters’ Constitutional right to choose their leaders must never be allowed to happen again.
As the Senate debate develops on this bill, the Business for Democracy campaign reserves the right to offer amended language needed to specifically address bad state actors.
Correcting Congress’s role in handling state electors is very important. However, making sure that the states submit electors that accurately reflect the wishes of their voters is probably even more important. Congress should not certify state electors if those electors result from state legislatures overriding their voters’ decisions.
Additionally, the Business for Democracy collaborative pointed out that reforming the Electoral Count Act is but one leg of the three-legged stool needed to hold up our democracy. Congress must also pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. All three pieces of federal legislation are essential to protect our democracy.
Business for Democracy is a campaign of the American Sustainable Business Network.
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Contact:
Frank Knapp
(803) 600-6874
businessfordemocracyus@gmail.com