Susan Collins announces new bill that aims to protect election certification in the future
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) are crafting their own bill that aims to stop the attempt to overthrow an election by allowing any random official to hand over the certified electors.
Speaking to reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday, Collins explained that the goal is to ensure that a state can't change the delivery mechanism after the election.
In the case of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), an aide was trying to figure out a way that the senator could hand a fake list of electors to the Vice President on the Senate floor before or during the count.
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The Washington Post cited Yale Law fellow Matthew Seligman, who is studying problems with the Electoral Count Act (ECA) and how to fix it.
“We saw some remarkable political courage by state officials, including governors and state secretaries of state, last time, and I hope we see that again, but we certainly can’t count on it,” said Seligman. “So if Congress doesn’t pass this law, I am terrified.”
Collins noted that Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) gave them pointers after his work on the ECA.
"What we do is we say that we define who is the official at the state level that is submitting the slate. And that is the governor unless the state law or Constitution indicates to the congress [otherwise]," said Collins. "That you cannot — the state would not be able to change who submits the slate after an election."
If that governor then sends a false slate of electors it would go to court, she said.
"Under the Constitution or under federal laws an aggrieved candidate could bring a lawsuit and challenge, kind of due process challenge for example, and there could be a process for expeditated consideration in the court," she said.
The bill is going to be announced on Wednesday or Thursday she indicated.
A Sept. 2020 Gallup poll of Americans had 61 percent of Americans eager to abolish the Electoral College entirely to put a stop to any politician having the power to overthrow the will of the people.
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