Could Democrats settle for Electoral College reform?

Biden, Schumer, and Pelosi
(Image credit: Stefani Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images)

This week "will be dominated" by the congressional battle over whether to change filibuster rules to push through Democrats' voting rights bill, reports Punchbowl News, but there's an alternative measure that may be picking up steam.

Sen. Susan Collins' (R-Maine) effort to change the Electoral Count Act of 1887 is reportedly seen as an increasingly viable option to work around centrist Democrats' refusal to budge on the filibuster. "An increasingly broad and powerful array of lawmakers is coalescing around" the idea, writes Axios, explaining that this strategy would change how Congress tallies Electoral College votes to certify elections. Likely inclusions would be "raising the threshold for objections beyond just a single senator and representative, and clarifying the role of the vice president as merely ceremonial."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Summer Meza, The Week US

Summer Meza has worked at The Week since 2018, serving as a staff writer, a news writer and currently the deputy editor. As a proud news generalist, she edits everything from political punditry and science news to personal finance advice and film reviews. Summer has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering national politics, transportation and the cannabis industry.