JAN. 6 INSURRECTION

Anti-Insurrection Law Finally Passed

New budget includes closing Electoral College loopholes

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Overshadowed by the transcripts released by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, Congress recently took a key step to protect our democracy by approving the Presidential Election Reform Act.

Included in the omnibus budget bill to ensure passage, the act replaces the Electoral Count Act of 1887, which former president Donald Trump and his supporters exploited in an attempt to stay in office. Its key provisions:

• Make clear the vice president’s role in counting Electoral College votes is simply ceremonial. Trump had demanded that former vice president Mike Pence just declare their victory, despite the loss. Pence’s decision that he did not have that power fueled insurrectionist chants of “Hang Mike Pence.”
• Lift the threshold for members of Congress to force a vote on discounting electors. Before, just one member of the House and one of the Senate could force a vote. Lawmakers were in the process of doing that when the Capitol was breached. The new legislation would raise the threshold to 20 percent of members of each chamber.
• Require governors to send electors to Congress for the candidate who won, based…