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September 28, 2022 - Washington - Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Rules Committee, has released the following statement on the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act:
“Free and fair elections are the foundation of our democracy. An important part of that foundation is the guarantee that all legal votes will be counted and that the results of those votes will be upheld, regardless of who wins.
“But on January 6, 2021, that fundamental aspect of our democracy came under threat.
“President Trump, his allies in state governments and some of his supporters in Congress attempted to undermine the election results and prevent a peaceful transfer of power.
“They used an outdated law – the Electoral Count Act – to argue that lawfully cast ballots and certified election results could be overturned, despite the lack of any evidence of fraud, mistake or credible legal challenge.
“It’s vital that we modernize this law – which is more than a century old – to prevent similar attempts to overturn legitimate election results in the future. This bipartisan bill will help ensure that our elections remain free and fair and that the will of the people is upheld.”
The bipartisan Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act has four key components:
- It clarifies that the only electoral role of the vice president is certifying votes. The vice president does not have the authority to overturn the results of an election.
- It increases the number of members of Congress who must object to a state’s electoral vote certificate before Congress will debate and vote on the validity of the certificate.
- It designates a state’s governor as the individual responsible for submitting a state’s slate of electors to Congress.
- And it creates an expedited judicial review process for challenges to a state’s certification of electors.
Source: Senator Dianne Feinstein
