The so-called “lame duck” session of Congress started yesterday. That’s the time between an election in November and the start of a new congressional term in January.
We have just a matter of weeks to pass critical legislation in *this* Congress. (The U.S. House of Representatives may be under Republican control next term, according to current election forecasts).
And one essential piece of unfinished business is passing the Electoral Count Reform Act.
This bipartisan legislation would prevent sore losers, liars, and cheats from exploiting alleged ambiguities in 19th-century laws to overturn the results of a legitimate presidential election — like Donald Trump and his adherents tried to do two years ago.
The Electoral Count Reform Act includes provisions to:
- Clarify that the vice president does not have power to solely determine, accept, reject, or otherwise adjudicate disputes over electors.
- Eliminate the potential for multiple state officials to send Congress competing slates of electors.
- Expedite the judicial process for resolving disputes about the validity of electoral votes.
- Prevent lone members of Congress from lodging unfounded objections to electors.
- Close a 178-year-old loophole that could be used by state legislatures to overrule voters by declaring a “failed election.”
Click now to tell Congress: The bipartisan Electoral Count Reform Act would update allegedly ambiguous provisions of 19th-century laws 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. Pass the Electoral Count Reform Act without delay.
Thanks for taking action.
For democracy,
- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
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