With Republicans set to block voting rights legislation, many Republicans and some Democrats are promoting revision of the Electoral Count Act as an attainable second best. They are either cynical or naïve.
The Electoral Count Act (ECA), enacted in the wake of the corrupt bargain of 1877 that installed Rutherford B. Hayes as president and ended Reconstruction, established procedures for Congress and the vice president to certify electors. In the attempted January 6 coup, Trump wanted Pence to go beyond the vice president’s ceremonial role and overturn enough state results to throw the election into the House, where Republicans controlled a majority of delegations.
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