House to Vote on Bipartisan Election Law Overhaul

Improve the News Foundation -

Facts

  • The US House is set to vote on the bipartisan Presidential Election Reform Act, introduced by Representatives Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) to reform the Electoral Count Act of 1887 in response to the Jan.6 Capitol riots.
  • The new legislation would prevent the vice president from overruling states' election results, and would narrow the amount of time and the number of reasons members of Congress can use to object to the results.
  • It would also require governors to certify legitimate election results and allow candidates to take non-conforming governors to court. Under the new act, state election laws wouldn't be allowed to change after an election.
  • Both the House and Senate have worked on election reform bills in response to former Pres. Trump’s claims that VP Mike Pence could’ve rejected states’ elector slates after the 2020 presidential election.
  • In July, the Senate also proposed changes to the Electoral Count Act. Although similar, the House bill requires five reasons and the support of one-third of each chamber to object to election results. Meanwhile, the Senate bill requires just one-fifth of each chamber to object.
  • If the Presidential Election Reform Act passes, differences between the House bill and the Senate's parallel efforts will have to be reconciled.

Sources: Independent, USA Today, Daily Caller, and CNN.

Narratives

  • Republican narrative, as provided by Fox News. In a violation of free speech, Democrats are trying to prevent anyone — including the presidential candidates themselves — from objecting to the results of an election unless those objections meet a very narrow list of specifications. This bill is as illegitimate as the Jan. 6 Committee, which wasn’t even bipartisan due to the House Speaker refusing to seat the GOP’s desired committee members.
  • Democratic narrative, as provided by Daily Kos. Republican animosity toward election reform laws shows they’re willing to allow Trump to attempt to steal an election in the future, so it’s imperative this new bill is passed while Democrats have the majority in both chambers. They should next focus on protecting voting rights for those in danger of being disenfranchised by future Supreme Court rulings.