WASHINGTON — One-fifth of the House and Senate, an increase from the current requirement of a single member in each chamber, would be needed for Congress to consider an objection to a state’s Electoral College votes under proposed legislation released Wednesday by a bipartisan group of more than a dozen senators.
The package would also clarify that the vice president’s role when electoral votes are counted is “ministerial,” and provide that funding for presidential transitions would be given to candidates even if their election is in dispute.
One of the two bills released Wednesday would update the Electoral Count Act of 1887, the law that governs the acceptance of presidential votes. Former President Donald Trump’s legal advisers had argued that Vice President Mike Pence could disregard electors from disputed states when Congress met on Jan. 6, 2021, to certify that Joe Biden had defeated Trump. Pence disagreed with Trump, and some of Trump’s supporters who rioted to stop Congress from acting had called for hanging the vice president.
