Washington, DC (WOAY)- Senator Joe Manchin spoke on the bipartisan Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration today. The Act would reform and modernize the outdated Electoral Count Act of 1887.
Senator Manchin proposed the reform to combat controversies surrounding close elections. “As we saw on January 6, 2021, a lot of the “fixes” established by the original Electoral Count Act are not merely outdated,” stated Senator Manchin.” but actually serve as the very mechanisms that bad actors have zeroed in on as a way to potentially invalidate presidential election results.’
The reformation would ensure that electoral votes tallied by Congress accurately reflect each state’s public vote for President. Additionally, the Act would replace unclear provisions of the 19th-century law with detailed procedures that maintain appropriate state and federal roles in selecting the President and Vice President of the United States as outlined in the U.S. Constitution.