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**JANUARY 19, 2022**

Kuttner on TAP

Beware Sham Voter Protection

Reform of the 1887 Electoral Count Act is a fake maneuver that will not
protect against the real threats.

With Republicans set to block voting rights legislation, many
Republicans and some Democrats are promoting revision of the Electoral
Count Act as an attainable second best. They are either cynical or
naïve.

The Electoral Count Act (ECA), enacted in the wake of the corrupt
bargain of 1877 that installed Rutherford B. Hayes as president and
ended Reconstruction, established procedures for Congress and the vice
president to certify electors. In the attempted January 6 coup, Trump
wanted Pence to go beyond the vice president's ceremonial role and
overturn enough state results to throw the election into the House,
where Republicans controlled a majority of delegations.

Presumably, reform of the Electoral Count Act would prevent any such
ploy. The Wall Street Journal

has been promoting the idea; and surprisingly, our former colleague Matt
Yglesias has been
taken in by it.

Yglesias wrote in his newsletter this morning, "ECA reform is good on
the merits-it won't fix American political institutions or 'save
democracy,' but it will reduce the odds of a collapse, and reducing
those odds is important. Passing and signing bipartisan bills also tend
to be at least a little bit popular and make the president who's doing
it look good."

Sorry, but this kind of "reform" is worse than nothing. It is
bipartisanship on Republican terms and it fails to address the real
threats to American democracy.

Article II of the Constitution provides that presidential electors shall
be appointed "in such manner as the Legislature thereof shall direct."
The escalating threats to a free and fair election are not in the
procedures of final count when Congress gathers, but at the state and
local level.

According to the latest report of the Brennan Center
,
partisan reviews of election results were attempted in six states in
2020 (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin),
and similar legislation has been prefiled in five more (Florida,
Missouri, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Tennessee). If Republican
legislatures and governors can rig the results before they notify
Washington of the certified winner, preventing mischief in the final
count by the VP is beside the point.

In addition, Republicans are trying the same maneuvers at the local
level, taking over election boards as well as erecting barriers to the
right to vote. According to Brennan, at least 152 restrictive bills in
18 states will make it harder to vote.

Even the now-moribund voting legislation pending before the Senate does
not address all of these abuses. If that legislation does go down, we
have three avenues to keep democracy alive: litigation in state courts,
full use by the attorney general of what remains of the 1965 Voting
Rights Act, and a massive voter mobilization and turnout.

What's really needed is a federal takeover guaranteeing the franchise.
In effect, that's what the 1965 Voting Rights Act did before it was
gutted in the majority-opinion 2013 case of Shelby County v. Holder
, written by one John Roberts.

But the last thing we need is sham reform.

****

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

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**Robert Kuttner's latest book is**

The Stakes: 2020 and the Survival of American Democracy
.

[link removed]

Missed Measurement: We Have No Idea How Many Evictions There Are

There is no federal data on evictions, keeping policymakers blind
during a moment of uncertainty. BY ALEXANDER SAMMON

Major U.S. Companies Slam Voter Suppression Laws, Then Donate to Their
Sponsors

The companies' donations appear to contradict their public
statements in support of voting rights. BY DONALD SHAW

How Democrats Can Dig Themselves Out of Their Current Hole

Republicans oppose necessary and very popular programs. Make them vote
on them. BY HAROLD MEYERSON

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