House Votes to Modify Electoral Count Act of 1887 in Response to January 6
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The House voted on Wednesday to modify the Electoral Count Act of 1887 in response to January 6, significantly increasing the threshold for the number of House members that have to object to a state’s presidential electors.
The bill was introduced by two members of the January 6 committee, Representatives Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.) and Zoe Lofgren (D., Calif.), and mandates that at least a third of House members to object to the electors, instead of the current one Representative and one Senator.
The bill stresses that the vice president does not have the authority to overturn election results and is solely “ministerial,” despite former president Donald Trump’s insistence — a response to an issue that the January 6 committee has focused on. It also mandates that the governor of each state, not any other official, is responsible for identifying the state’s electors.
“What Donald Trump tried to convince the vice president to do was illegal under existing law and we begin by affirming that but we need to then take steps to make sure that another Jan. 6 is something that never happens again,” Cheney said Tuesday, according to CBS.
The measure passed the House mostly on party lines, with nine Republicans, including Cheney and Representative Adam Kinzinger (R., Il.), voting in approval. All nine Republicans are not returning to Congress next year, either due to losing primaries or because they’re retiring from office. Every Democrat voted in approval.
“Ultimately, this bill is about protecting the will of the American voters, which is a principle that is beyond partisanship,” Lofgren said, according to the New York Times. “The bottom line is if you want to object to the vote, you’d better have your colleagues and the Constitution on your side.”
