Bill Making It Harder for Lawmakers to Object to Presidential Results Advances in the Senate

Cruz the only senator who voted ‘no’ to election reform bill as it passes the Senate Rules Committee

A measure that would reform the Electoral Count Act of 1887 and make it harder for members of Congress to object to or decertify presidential election results has advanced in the Senate, after Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) signaled support for the bill.

Members on the Senate Rules Committee on Sept. 27 voted 14–1 to approve and send the bill (pdf), titled the “Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022,” to the Senate floor. The bill was written by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).

McConnell was among the 14 senators who signaled his support for the Senate bill on Sept. 27.

“I’ll proudly support the legislation provided that nothing more than practical changes are made to its current form,” McConnell said in remarks to the Senate. He added that the bill as introduced “is the only chance to get an outcome and to actually make law.”

“Congress’s process for counting the presidential electors’ votes was written 135 years ago,” he said. “The chaos that came to a head on January 6th of last year certainly underscored the need for an update. So did Januaries 2001, 2005, and 2017; in each of which, Democrats tried to challenge the lawful election of a Republican president.”

The lone senator on the Senate Rules Committee who voted no was Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Cruz was one of two senators—the other was Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)—who had objected to President Joe Biden’s certification in the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is seen on stage during the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit held at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla., on July 22, 2022. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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