Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022

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The Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022 was a bill signed into law by President Joe Biden (D) on December 23, 2022.[1] The Senate approved the bill, which was attached to a year-end omnibus funding bill, in a 68-29 vote on December 22, 2022.[2] The House approved the bill in a 225-201 vote the following day.[3]

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced the bill on July 20, 2022. Collins and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) led negotiations on the bill.[4] When Collins introduced the bill, the following senators signed on as co-sponsors: Manchin, Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

This bill changed the procedure for counting electoral votes outlined in the Electoral Count Act of 1887. Click here to read more about the Electoral Count Act.

Elements of the bill included:[5][1]

  • Specifying that the vice president's role at the joint session of congress to count electoral votes is ministerial and that he or she cannot solely adjudicate disputes over electors.
  • Raising the objection threshold at the joint session of congress to count electoral votes to one-fifth of the members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Under the 1887 Electoral Count Act, the threshold was one member from each chamber of Congress.
  • Identifying governors as the single official responsible for submitting the certificate of ascertainment identifying that state’s electors, unless that official is otherwise identified in the state's law or constitution.
  • Providing for expedited judicial review of certain claims about states' certificates identifying their electors.

Since the 1887 passage of the Electoral Count Act, there have been three joint sessions of congress to count electoral votes where members were able to advance an objection by meeting the Electoral Count Act's threshold of one U.S. House member and one U.S. Senate member submitting written objections. These objections were raised in 1969, 2005, and 2021. After an objection to Arizona's electoral votes was raised in 2021, the last time congress met in a joint session to count electoral votes before the introduction of this bill, the proceedings were interrupted due to a breach of the U.S. Capitol. Click here to read more.

This page provides the following information about the bill:

Timeline

The following section provides an abbreviated timeline of key actions related to the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022.

  • December 23, 2022:
    • President Joe Biden (D) signed the bill into law.
    • The House voted 225-201 to approve the omnibus funding bill that included the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022.[3]
  • December 22, 2022: The Senate voted 68-29 to approve the omnibus funding bill that included the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022.[2]
  • December 20, 2022: Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Manchin (R-W.Va.) announced the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022 had been attached to the year-end omnibus government funding bill.[6]
  • July 20, 2022: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced the bill.[1]

Roll calls

House vote on passage (December 23, 2022)

The House voted 225-201 to pass the amended bill on December 23, 2022.[3]

Senate vote on passage (December 22, 2022)

The Senate voted 68-29 to pass the omnibus funding bill to which the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022 was attached on December 22, 2022.[7]

  • Forty-eight Democrats voted yes.
  • The two independents who caucus with Democrats also voted yes.
  • Eighteen Republicans voted yes.
  • Three Republicans, Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), and Richard Burr (R-N.C.) did not vote.
  • Twenty-nine Republicans voted against the motion.

Text of the bill

The legislative text below was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on July 20, 2022.[1]

Electoral Count Act of 1887

See also: Electoral College

Congress passed and Grover Cleveland (D) signed the Electoral Count Act in 1887 following disputed election results in the 1876 presidential election between Rutherford B. Hayes (R) and Samuel Tilden (D). Electors in Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Oregon submitted competing electoral vote counts to Congress. In 1877, Grant signed a bill convening an electoral commission consisting of five members of the U.S. House of Representatives, five members of the U.S. Senate, and five justices of the United States Supreme Court to resolve the dispute. A decade later, the Electoral Count Act was passed to address some questions that emerged from the commission's decision.[8]

The Act outlined the process by which Congress counts the states' electoral votes in a joint session where the vice president is the presiding officer. It also establishes the process by which members of Congress can object to each state's submission, requiring one member of the U.S. House and one member of the U.S. Senate to submit a written objection after the body reads the vote count from a particular state or D.C. The Act places authority for "final determination of any controversy or contest concerning the appointment of all or any" of a state's electors with the state "by judicial or other methods or procedures."[9]

Key legislation during Biden administration

This section provides links to coverage of key federal legislation considered during the Biden administration. To be included, the bill must have met several of the following qualifying factors:

  • Collaboration between the president and congressional leadership on the bill
  • Use of the reconciliation process to pass the bill
  • Changes to the congressional procedure to pass the bill
  • Estimated cost of the bill as evaluated by the Congressional Budget Office
  • Extent of public relations campaign to promote the bill
  • Domestic and international policy ramifications

Legislation in the 118th Congress

Legislation in the 117th Congress

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Congress.gov, "S.4573 - Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022," accessed September 30, 2022
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Twitter, "Senate Press Gallery on December 22, 2022," accessed December 22, 2022
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Washington Post, "House approves $1.7 trillion omnibus bill amid GOP objections, sending it to Biden," December 23, 2022
  4. ↑ Office of Susan Collins, "Senators Introduce Reforms to the Electoral Count Act of 1887," July 20, 2022
  5. ↑ Office of Senator Susan Collins, "One Pager on Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022," accessed September 30, 2022
  6. ↑ Office of Susan Collins, "Senators Collins, Manchin Announce ECA Reform Included in Omnibus Bill," December 20, 2022
  7. ↑ Senate.gov, "Roll Call Vote 117th Congress - 2nd Session," accessed December 23, 2022
  8. ↑ National Constitution Center, "Looking Back: The Electoral Commission of 1877," January 4, 2022
  9. ↑ Statutes and Stories, "Electoral Count Act of 1887 (and the Election of 1876)," August 17, 2020
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