New proposal from Democrats sets the bar for Collins/Manchin ‘bipartisan’ ruse on election reform – US News about Policy, Capitol Hill and State Legislatures

The confession from the former guy that hell yes, he was attempting a coup, and that he’d pardon anyone convicted of trying to violently overthrow the government on his behalf should he be in a position to do so, is possibly pushing Republicans into doing the least possible when it comes to elections reform in order to Trump-proof 2024.

That’s good. It’s not enough to secure free and fair elections in which every eligible voter has opportunity and access to exercise their right, but it’s important cleanup work that has to be done. The problem is, just as predicted, a bipartisan gang is taking over, with Republicans in charge and speaking through their usual tool, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, in a process that could very well drag out for the remainder of the legislative session. In the three weeks since the gang started meeting, they’ve made essentially no progress beyond identifying subgroups to talk about potential areas of reform.

Manchin trotted himself out onto a Sunday show, along with Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowsi, to mouth bipartisan platitudes about the effort. On CNN’s State of the Union, Manchin told Jake Tapper, “I think absolutely it’ll pass. Now, there will be some people saying it’s not enough. There will be some people saying it’s more than what we should do or we don’t need it. And what we’ll do is try to bring them all together and say, ‘Listen, this is what we should do because this is what caused the problem. And it’s what we can do. So let’s do that.’”

The Electoral Count Act is not what caused the problem and it’s not what’s exacerbating the problem more than a year later, with Trump still out there agitating about the Big Lie, and a Republican Party which is quite literally attempting to redefine violent sedition as “legitimate political discourse.”

Nevertheless, Manchin and Murkowski are out there touting this fairy tale of how bipartisanship in the Senate will save everything. Again, literally. “I kind of have said, we’re going to take the Goldilocks approach here. We’re gonna try to find what’s just right,” Murkowski said. “And it’s not going to be just right for everybody, but will it be a step ahead? Will it be important for the country? Yeah.”

Manchin did suggest that the legislation would seek to prevent states from trying to send fake electors, a key element of Trump’s coup plot. “When one congressman and one senator can bring a state’s authentic count to a halt, it’s wrong. And basically not protecting the electors—and you can change electors—before you send them here … this is what we’re going to fix.”

Murkowski also said a priority would be protections for election workers. “We want to make sure that … if you’re going to be an election worker, if you’re going to be there at the polling booth, you don’t feel intimidated or threatened or harassed,” Murkowski said. “We are sitting down I think, again, as members in good faith to ensure that election integrity across all 50 states moves forward in a positive way.”

Democrats are trying both to hasten the process and to set the bar for what’s necessary in this effort. Maine’s independent Sen. Angus King, Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Senate Majority Whip and Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) released a discussion draft of their legislation, the Electoral Count Modernization Act, last week.

Their legislation would clarify that the vice president’s role in overseeing the formal counting and certification of presidential elector votes is purely ceremonial. It also puts a much greater onus on meddlesome members trying to overthrow an election by requiring one-third of each body—the House and the Senate—to object to a state’s slate of electors, and specify a limited set of grounds for those objections to be raised. Right now, a single lawmaker in each chamber can object. The draft legislation would also set the threshold for upholding an objection at three-fifths of members in each chamber, instead of the current simple majority.

The Democrats’ legislation would also try to prevent partisan bad actors in the states from hijacking the process by prohibiting state legislatures from appointing electors after Election Day, to prevent the appointment of electors who would try to overturn election results. It extends the deadline until Dec. 20 for states to complete recounts and for any litigation over the election result to be resolved. It would allow “limited judicial review” for ensuring that the electors appointed by a state “reflect the popular vote results in the state.” In other words, it provides another layer of protection—judicial—to protect the integrity of the count in states.

Those are some of the minimum things that any ECA reform would need to accomplish, and it is imperative that this reform happens. The 145-year-old law has reached the end of its usefulness, now that the controlling faction of a major political party has sanctioned insurrection.

Speaking of which, the venture is still Sen. Susan Collins’ brainchild. The Susan Collins who refuses to say that she wouldn’t support Trump in 2024. This Susan Collins:

She’s not doing this out of the goodness of her heart or any great sense of patriotism. She’s doing it to prevent further election reforms and voting rights restoration that could doom Republicans in the future. That’s why Democrats need both to be engaged in this process and to try to force it to completion sooner rather than later—and why they can’t stop pushing for more.