Sen. Chuck Schumer mentioned Republican calls to reform the Electoral Counts Act are "inadequate."
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Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-NY) rejected Republican calls Thursday to reform a nineteenth century election legislation so as to forestall a reprise of final yr’s Capitol riot, saying the proposal was “unacceptably inadequate.”
Schumer has led the push within the Senate for sweeping election reform, which might override newly enacted legal guidelines in some states that strictly regulate early and mail-in voting in addition to tighten voter ID necessities.
Nonetheless, the Democrat-backed invoice is opposed by each Senate Republican, giving it no probability of passing the 50-50 Senate.
In its place, high Senate Republicans led by Minority Chief Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have floated revising the Electoral Depend Act of 1887, which dictates the method lawmakers make the most of in counting electoral votes.
“Some say the reply lies in doing the naked minimal, like reforming the Electoral Depend Act that my good friend, the Republican chief, has floated in latest days,” Schumer mentioned. “Let me take this chance to clarify that that plan, the McConnell plan — that’s what it's — is unacceptable, unacceptably inadequate and even offensive.”
Proponents argue that rewriting the invoice may take away any query surrounding Congress’ position in certifying the election, presumably by making it more durable for lawmakers to problem state-certified slates of electors or specifying that the vice chairman holds a strictly ceremonial position.
Ambiguities within the present legislation had been seized on by former President Donald Trump and his allies to insist that then-Vice President Mike Pence may reject the slate of electors put ahead by states the place Trump believed voter fraud had occurred in 2020. On the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, hours earlier than rioters breached the Capitol, Pence declared that he had no such authority.
“Sen. McConnell’s plan to reform the Electoral Depend Act would do nothing greater than codify the vice chairman’s ceremonial position in counting the electoral school votes successfully guaranteeing that partisan state legislatures may overturn the elections with out concern of recourse. Take a look at what it does, it’s a cynical thought,” Schumer mentioned. “It’s an thought to divert consideration from the true concern as a result of they don’t need to confront the true concern. This can't be.”
Republicans have vehemently denied accusations that stricter voting legal guidelines are supposed to disenfranchise voters and known as them needed to guard towards voter fraud. They've additionally decried the Democratic election reform invoice as an unconstitutional energy seize.
“No celebration that will break the Senate might be trusted to grab unprecedented management over all 50 states’ election legal guidelines,” McConnell tweeted Wednesday. “The truth that many Democrats are this determined for a one-party takeover of our democracy proves precisely why they can't be allowed to do it.”
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