WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan group of senators agreed Wednesday on proposed changes to the Electoral Count Act, the post-Civil War-era law for certifying presidential elections that came under intense scrutiny after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Long in the making, the package introduced by the group led by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia includes two proposals. One would clarify the way states submit electors and the vice president tallies the votes in Congress. The other would bolster security for state and local election officials, who have faced violence and harassment.
"From the beginning, our bipartisan group has shared a vision of drafting legislation to fix the flaws of the archaic and ambiguous Electoral Count Act of 1887," Collins, Manchin and the other 14 senators said in a statement.
"We have developed legislation that establishes clear guidelines for our system of certifying and counting electoral votes," the group wrote. "We urge our colleagues in both parties to support these simple, commonsense reforms."
The legislation does not incorporate wider voting protections sought by Democrats after some states instituted new laws seen as making it more difficult for people to vote after Democratic victories in 2020. Senate Republicans have previously blocked those measures.
Both Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer of New York and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have signaled support for this effort, but the final legislative package will undergo careful scrutiny.
Votes are not likely before the fall. But with broad support from the group of senators -- seven Democrats and nine Republicans -- who have worked privately for months with the help of outside experts, serious consideration is assured.
Although the authors do not have the minimum 10 Republican senators needed to guarantee the legislation could make it past a filibuster and to final passage, they hope to round up sufficient backing. There is widespread sentiment in Congress that some steps need to be taken to bolster the 135-year-old law, although there may be disagreement on the specific provisions.
"The Electoral Count Act does need to be fixed," McConnell, the minority leader, told reporters Tuesday, saying he was "sympathetic" to the aims of those working on the legislation.
Besides Collins, the other Republican members of the group backing the overhaul are Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Todd Young of Indiana.
In addition to Manchin, the Democrats are Sens. Ben Cardin of Maryland, Chris Coons of Delaware, Christopher Murphy of Connecticut, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Mark Warner of Virginia.
MOVE PRAISED
In a statement, Matthew Weil, executive director of the Democracy Program at the Bipartisan Policy Center, called the framework a "critical step" in shoring up ambiguities in the Electoral Count Act.
After Trump lost the election, he orchestrated an unprecedented attempt to challenge the electors sent from battleground states to the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, when the vice president presides over certification.
Under the proposed changes, the law would be updated to ensure the governor from each state -- and solely the governor -- is initially responsible for submitting electors, as a way to safeguard against states sending alternative or fake elector slates.
Additionally, the law would spell out that the vice president presides over the session in a "solely ministerial" capacity, according to a summary page. It says the vice president "does not have any power to solely determine, accept, reject, or otherwise adjudicate disputes over electors."
That provision is a direct reaction to Trump's relentless efforts to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject the electors being sent from certain battleground states as a way to halt the certification or tip it away from Joe Biden's victory.
In an effort to prevent frivolous efforts to object to a state's electoral count, a minimum of one-fifth of the House and Senate would be needed to lodge an objection -- a substantial increase from the current threshold of one House member and one senator. Objections would still have to be sustained by a majority of the House and Senate.
The bill also specifies the procedures around presidential transitions, including when the election outcome is disputed, to ensure the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next.
That's another pushback to the way Trump blocked Biden's team from accessing some information for his transition to the White House.
PROTECTING ELECTION WORKERS
The second proposal, revolving around election security, would double the federal penalties to up to two years in prison for individuals who "threaten or intimidate election officials, poll watchers, voters or candidates," according to the summary.
It also would seek to improve the way the U.S. Postal Service handles election mail and "provide guidance to states to improve their mail-in ballot processes." Mail-in ballots and the role of the Postal Service came under great scrutiny during the 2020 election.
An Associated Press review of potential cases of voter fraud in six battleground states found no evidence of widespread fraud that could change the outcome of the election. An AP review of drop boxes used for mailed ballots also found no significant problems.
The need for election worker protections was front and center at a separate hearing Wednesday of the House Committee on Homeland Security.
Election officials and experts testified that a rise in threats of physical violence is contributing to staffing shortages across the country and a loss of experience at local boards of elections.
"The impact is widespread," said Neal Kelley, a former registrar of voters in Orange County, Calif., who now chairs the Committee for Safe and Secure Elections. "And, while the effects on individuals are devastating, the potential blow to democracy should not be dismissed."
Elizabeth Howard, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice, told the committee that Congress needs to direct more money and support toward protecting election workers' personal safety, including by funding local and federal training programs and providing grants to enhance security at election directors' homes.
Democratic New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, who recently reported a series of threats, told the panel the situation has become worse with Trump's attacks on the election result.
"Unfortunately, we are still on a daily basis, in my state and across the country, living with the reverberating effects of the 'Big Lie' from 2020," she said. "And, as we all know, when it comes to leadership, what you say from the very highest echelons of government power in this country do have those reverberating effects."
Some Republican members of the committee condemned violence against election workers -- and also drew a parallel to recent threats and intimidation directed toward some U.S. Supreme Court justices after their decision to overturn constitutional protections for abortion.
GOP Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana rejected the notion that Trump and other election skeptics were solely responsible for the "atmosphere of mistrust" that grew up around the election.
Information for this article was contributed by Lisa Mascaro and Julie Carr Smyth of The Associated Press, and by Carl Hulse of The New York Times.