Category Archives: electoral college

Feb. 16 BPC Event: “Electoral Count Act: Conspiracies, Controversies, and Consequences”

February 14, 2022, 11:50 amelectoral collegeRick Hasen

This looks good: Join BPC next Wednesday, February 16, for a special conversation on the Electoral Count Act (ECA) with legal scholars Derek T. Muller and Richard H. Pildes, moderated by Lara Brown, Ph.D. The ECA, which guides Congress… Continue reading

Judge Luttig: “The Conservative Case for Avoiding a Repeat of Jan. 6”

February 14, 2022, 7:38 amelection subversion risk, electoral collegeRick Hasen

Judge Luttig NYT oped: The clear and present danger to our democracy now is that former President Donald Trump and his political allies appear prepared to exploit the Electoral Count Act of 1887, the law governing the counting of… Continue reading

Challenges confronting even narrow federal jurisdiction in Electoral Count Act disputes

February 8, 2022, 2:10 pmelectoral collegeDerek Muller

The Committee on House Administration’s majority staff (on behalf of Chair Zoe Lofgren) released a significant document a couple of weeks ago addressing Electoral Count Act reform. This document has been stunningly underexamined in media scrutiny (in my humble opinion),… Continue reading

“The 1887 Law Putting American Democracy at Risk”

February 8, 2022, 7:35 amelection subversion risk, electoral collegeRick Hasen

NYT: The Electoral Count Act is both a legal monstrosity and a fascinating puzzle.Intended to settle disputes about how America chooses its presidents, the 135-year-old law has arguably done the opposite. Last year, its poorly written and ambiguous… Continue reading

“The plan to ‘Trump-proof’ 2024 gets a big boost — from Donald Trump”

February 7, 2022, 11:57 amelection subversion risk, electoral collegeRick Hasen

Greg Sargent: That’s why it’s a big deal that Manchin has now clarified that ECA reform will seek to safeguard against states sending sham electors. It’s not yet clear how the bipartisan reform would do this. But there are several… Continue reading

Jennifer Rubin: “A victory to secure elections is still possible”

February 7, 2022, 10:47 amelectoral collegeRick Hasen

Jennifer Rubin WaPo column on sensible ECA reform.

Matthew Seligman: The Draft Electoral Count Modernization Act’s Chain-of-Custody Approach

February 3, 2022, 7:09 amelection subversion risk, electoral collegeRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from Matthew Seligman: Now that we’ve had a day or two to digest the draft Electoral Count Modernization Act released by Senators King, Klobuchar, and Durbin, I see better what it’s trying to… Continue reading

Initial thoughts on the discussion draft of the King-Klobuchar-Durbin “Electoral Count Modernization Act”

February 1, 2022, 12:38 pmelectoral college, legislation and legislaturesDerek Muller

After all the news about proposed Electoral Count Act reform, we have the first “discussion draft” proposal out the door: Senators Angus King, Amy Klobuchar, and Dick Durbin have proposed the “Electoral Count Modernizaton Act.” There’s a lot… Continue reading

“Select Committee Subpoenas ‘Alternative Electors’ from Seven States”

January 28, 2022, 11:15 amelectoral collegeRick Hasen

Release: Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) today announced that, as part of its investigation into the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol and its causes, the Select Committee has issued subpoenas to 14 individuals who participated as… Continue reading

Matthew Seligman: “A Realistic Risk Assessment of ECA Manipulation in 2024”

January 26, 2022, 11:06 amelection subversion risk, electoral collegeRick Hasen

The following is a guest post from Matthew Seligman: Congress suddenly seems focused on reforming the Electoral Count Act as a fragile bipartisan consensus is emerging that the ECA is broken and must be fixed. Critical questions remain about… Continue reading

Robert Kuttner Comes Out Against Stand-Alone Electoral College Act Reform

January 24, 2022, 6:30 amelectoral collegeRick Hasen

Here at TAP.

My New One at Slate: “What Democrats Need From Mitch McConnell to Make an Election Reform Deal Worth It”

January 21, 2022, 7:43 amelection subversion risk, electoral collegeRick Hasen

I have written this piece for Slate. It begins: The debate over whether Democrats should pursue their large voting rights package or a narrower law aimed against election subversion became moot on Wednesday when Democrats could not muster up enough… Continue reading

What should happen to 2020’s renegade presidential electors?

January 12, 2022, 8:53 amelectoral collegeDerek Muller

The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the Capitol has been digging into the renegade electoral votes submitted by some Republicans in some states that President Joe Biden carried in 2020. POLITICO links to some PDFs of … Continue reading

“The Bad Deal Democrats Should Take; Electoral-count reform is a narrow fix, insufficient for the many problems in the voting system—but it’s better than nothing at all.”

January 9, 2022, 1:23 pmelection subversion risk, electoral collegeRick Hasen

David Graham for the Atlantic: Some ECA-reform advocates worry that even if Schumer was somehow able to get Manchin and Sinema to agree to sweeping reforms, including ECA updates, and pass them through the Senate on a party-line vote… Continue reading