Counting the Votes in Congress

Photo by Quick PS

At the height of the 2020 election campaign, MapLight published Election in Peril, a comprehensive report on improving the laws governing presidential elections. We noted that the Electoral Count Act, an archaic law that governs how Congress counts votes, has dangerous gaps in ambiguities. We recommended that Congress rewrite this law, in place since 1887, to prevent ambiguity in future disputed elections. Following this advice from MapLight and other groups, Republicans and Democrats in Congress have recently put forward Electoral Count Act reforms, to prevent future constitutional crises.