The Electoral Count Act of 1887 establishes the Congressional procedures for how state electoral votes for president and vice president are cast and counted. Unfortunately, 135 years later we now know that the rules of the Act are vague and outdated and led to false claims that the Vice President or Congress could reject the will of the voters – or that state bad actors could override the popular vote by appointing their own electors after Election Day.
The Act needs reformed by Congress to confront electoral subversion at both the state and federal levels by helping ensure that partisan politicians cannot substitute their own preferences for the judgment of the American people in presidential elections.
Business for Democracy state collaboratives support reforming the Act by passing the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022, With over 60 Senators either as co-sponsors of the bill or having indicated support for it makes its passage before the next Congress very likely.
The Senate office of Susan Collins has prepared a one page description of the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022. It can be found here.
