Sec. 2. Findings

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Congress finds the following: Article II and the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution govern how our Republic selects the President and Vice President of the United States. Article II provides that each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress. (Constitution, article II, section 1, clause 2). Article II provides that Congress has the authority to regulate the timing of such elections by setting the time of the Presidential election and the day on which presidential electors cast their votes (Constitution, article II, section 1, clause 4).

The Twelfth Amendment identifies Congress’ responsibility for counting electoral votes: The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed. . Congress’ authorities in these respects are further bolstered by the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution (article I, section 8, clause 18).

On January 6, 2021, a mob professing support for then-President Trump violently attacked the United States Capitol in an effort to prevent a Joint Session of Congress from certifying the electoral college votes designating Joseph R. Biden the 46th President of the United States. Trump v. Thompson, 20 F.4th 10, 15 (D.C. Cir. 2021), cert. denied, 142 S. Ct. 1350 (2022). This constituted the single most deadly attack on the Capitol by domestic forces in the history of the United States.

Trump, 20 F.4th at 35. Then-Vice President Pence, Senators and Representatives were all forced to halt their constitutional duties and flee . . . for safety. Id. at 16. The events of January 6, 2021 marked the most significant assault on the Capitol since the War of 1812. Id. at 18–19. The Electoral Count Act of 1887 should be amended to prevent other future unlawful efforts to overturn Presidential elections and to ensure future peaceful transfers of Presidential power. The reforms contained in this Act are fully consistent with States’ constitutional authority vested by Article II to appoint electors; the reforms herein do not restrict the mode in which States lawfully appoint their respective electors or resolve related contests or controversies, but instead ensure that those appointments, and the votes cast by those electors, are duly transmitted to Congress.

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Sec. 2

Findings

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