Bipartisan electoral reform is possible

It is still unclear what exactly Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) Jan. 6 committee is trying to accomplish, but a bipartisan group of 16 senators proved this week the body’s work is not necessary to reach real, productive, commonsense electoral reform.

Negotiated by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Manchin (D-WV), the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act is perhaps most praiseworthy for what is not in it. Specifically, all of the highly partisan and harmful provisions of the Democrats' preferred electoral legislation — The For the People Act, which would have banned voter identification requirements, among other things — have been removed from this bill.

Instead, the legislation focuses solely on updating the Electoral Count Act of 1887, a law President Donald Trump tried to exploit to delay the certification of the 2020 presidential election.