US Congress passes new election rules to prevent January 6-like attacks

Washington

In a bid to prevent another January 6-like attack, the US Congress has approved the final passage of legislation that seeks to reform the Electoral Count Act—an arcane law that governs the certification of a presidential contest.

The provision amending the 1887 law won crucial bipartisan support and now awaits President Joe Biden’s approval. The reform was much-awaited as the law has long been criticised as poorly and confusingly written.

Once the legislation takes effect, it would become harder for future presidential losers to prevent the ascension of their opponents, similar to what Donald Trump tried to do on January 6, 2021, when he incited a mob to prevent the certification of Biden.

The new provision also adds another threshold required for members of Congress to object to certifying the electors. Under new rules, at least 20% of the members of each chamber had to object to recall on a state’s electors.

Earlier, only one member of the House and Senate respectively had to object to force a roll call vote on a state’s electors.

Moreover, under the new rules, one-fifth of each chamber would be required to force a vote on states’ slates of electors.

The new provisions also make sure that only one slate of electors makes it to Congress. It has been added in response to the attempts made by Trump and his allies to unsuccessfully create alternative slates of electors in states Biden won.

Now, each governor would be required to sign off on electors, and Congress cannot consider slates submitted by different officials. The bill creates a legal process if any of those electors are challenged by a presidential candidate.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: