A bipartisan group of lawmakers
on capitol hill has agreed to a
framework to reform the
electoral count act, the law
that governs the way congress
counts and certifies electoral
college votes during a
presidential election.
It has become a subject of
scrutiny after the January 6
attack.
For more, I am joined by
congressional correspondent Lisa
Desjardins.
Remind us of what this act does
and what this group is looking
to do.
Lisa: This act goes back to the
1980's after the tumultuous 1876
election lead to different
problems with competing slates
of delegates and electors.
This law was put in place to
have a clear process for how the
electoral college certification
was done.
It spells out congress's role,
exactly what happens and what
was supposed to happen on
January 6.
Because this particular law,
rarely brought up, is murky in
some ways, it led to questions
on January 6 and conspiracy
theories that it could be
changed and opened the door to
objections in congress itself.
Let's look at what this
framework would do.
Right now in order to trigger a
challenge to an electoral count,
it requires one member of the
house and one of the senate to
challenge any state's electors.
This framework would radically
change that to require 20% of
each chamber must object to the
electors to trigger a challenge.
Also the electoral count act
states the vice president as
president of the senate
announces the count, but it's
vague.
It's not clear what the vice
president's limits are.
No one ever had a problem with
that until the 2020 election.
This would make it clear the
vice president only has a
ceremonial or ministerial role,
as some folks are saying.
The agreement would have some
money for security for state
elections officials, something
the two of you were just talking
about.
Judy: Tell us about the
timeline.
What you are seeing now is a
framework, not legislative
language yet.
Annie: One reason it has taken
longer is there are not really
experts on this.
No one from the Arthur or glover
Cleveland administrations is
still around.
I was told by one senator they
think they can get text ready
for this by August.
The question is when there would
be a vote.
I believe we would have to see a
vote after the election itself,
one because Democrats think this
kind of bill should include
voting rights and they might
have a problem if it doesn't.
Republicans no this kind of bill
may raise iron from the trump
side of their party.
While this could be ready to go
before then, we may not see a
full vote in the senate for a
few months.
Judy: This is not a law that had
gotten a great deal of attention
before.
It was taken for granted.
Remind us why this is something
that matters so much.
Lisa: I think you segment just
now showed exactly why this is
going on.
There are candidates running now
for congress who denied 2020
election and would use something
like the electoral count law.
This shows the primaries until
now.
The states that are red is how
many Republican nominees for the
house denied the 2020 win by Joe
Biden, or question it.
These are people who under
current law would have the right
to object to another election if
president trump runs again.
This is not just theoretical.
The electoral count act could
very much affect the next
election.
Vice president pence's role, one
of his closest advisors has been
speaking out about this and what
was leading up to January 6.
He spoke to frontline for an
upcoming document here is what
he said about the theories.
>> The plan was to overturn the
election through the
exploitation of what I have
called the institutions of
democracy and the
instrumentalities of our
democracy.
We know now there is no question
about it.
They knew exactly what they were
doing and they believed it.
Lisa: He will be one of the
witnesses at tomorrow's
committee hearing.
Judy: It doesn't get any more
critical than this.