Source: United States Senator for Pennsylvania Pat Toomey
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) today released the following statement after cosponsoring the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022.
“The poor drafting of the 1887 Electoral Count Act endangered the transition of power from one Administration to the next. Unfortunately, in the over 100 intervening years, individual Democratic and Republican Members of Congress have occasionally attempted to exploit the ambiguities in this law to cast doubt on the validity of our elections, culminating in the debacle of January 6, 2021. It is past time Congress act. This legislation would make commonsense changes to clarify the role of Congress, the Vice President, and the courts in the certification of presidential elections to give the American people more confidence it will be their voice that chooses the next executive and those that follow,” said Senator Toomey.
Background on the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022:
· Clarifies confusing language from the original Electoral Count Act of 1887
· Adds important guardrails to protect results from partisan interference
· Respects and preserves the bifurcated election process set forth in the Constitution
· Clarifies that the Vice President’s role in certifying an election is purely ministerial
· Increases the threshold to file an objection during congressional certification from one member of each chamber to at least 1/5 of each chamber
· Prevents any state from changing their laws after an election in an attempt to overturn a previous election’s results
· Clarifies which state official must submit an electoral slate to Congress in order to avoid a situation where a state submits two competing slates of electors to Congress
· Introduced by Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.)