Collins underscores need to reform Electoral Count Act: ‘Peaceful transfer of

Sen. Susan CollinsSusan Margaret CollinsThe Hill’s Morning Report – One day, two continents, words of war McConnell’s unconstitutional blockade of Garland poisoned subsequent proceedings The Hill’s Morning Report – Biden on Russia: Distrust and verify MORE (R-Maine) underscored the need to reform a 1887 election law which details how the Electoral College vote is formally counted by Congress, saying that the “peaceful transfer of power shouldn’t require heroes” in an op-ed published in The New York Times on Friday.

Collins, along with Sen. Joe ManchinJoe ManchinPhotos of the Week: Ukraine, Super Bowl LVI and penguins Child poverty rose by 3.7 million after expanded child tax credit expired: study The Hill’s Morning Report – One day, two continents, words of war MORE (D-W.Va.), is leading efforts among a bipartisan group of 16 senators to reform the Electoral Count Act. Collins and others last month acknowledged that they were discussing changes to the 1887 election law a year after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol and tried to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential results. 

Former President TrumpDonald TrumpEx-CNN executive discussed interview topics with Andrew Cuomo: report Overnight Defense & National Security — Biden ‘convinced’ Russia will invade Ukraine Hillicon Valley — Questions before Trump’s social media launch MORE pushed former Vice President Mike PenceMichael (Mike) Richard PencePence says he believes RNC’s clarification of ‘legitimate political discourse,’ calls Jan. 6 a ‘tragic day’ Trump’s accounting firm has cut ties with him — here’s why the GOP can’t do the same CPAC’s straw poll is the first Trump vs. DeSantis primary MORE not to certify the results, though Pence has said that he did not have the authority to do so. In light of those events, the Maine senator said that she wanted the role of the vice president in the formal counting process to be clarified. 

“The ambiguously phrased Electoral Count Act must be amended to make absolutely clear that a vice president cannot manipulate or ignore electoral votes as he or she presides over this joint session of Congress. But other flaws in the law must also be remedied,” Collins wrote on Friday.

“For instance, the law’s threshold for triggering a challenge to the results of a state is far too low: Only one representative and one senator are required to object to a state’s electors. In the past, members on both sides of the aisle have challenged the vote without any real evidence of wrongdoing,” she added.

But Collins said that lawmakers had to be careful about how they crafted the piece of legislation in order to prevent “partisan provisions.”

“We have to be careful about expanding a reform bill to include provisions that go well beyond correcting the current law, strengthening election security and protecting poll workers from threats of violence,” the Republican senator wrote. “Relitigating bills that have already been rejected won’t get us to the finish line. Our primary focus must be on avoiding another Jan. 6 by reforming the Electoral Count Act.”

The Maine Republican also took the opportunity to rebuke Trump,…