A new plan to 'Trump-proof' the 2024 election quietly comes together

[brooklynite]

Washington Post

If Republicans succeed in blocking Democratic efforts to protect voting rights this week, as expected, the push to defend democracy will be anything but dead. That’s because another important proposal to prevent a stolen 2024 election is coming together in the Senate.

This one may — may — prove harder for Republicans to oppose. At least it should prove harder. It would help prevent a rerun of Donald Trump’s 2020 effort — and the violence that followed — with minimal reforms that Republicans can’t manufacture objections to as easily.

Senators are close to completing a bill to revise the Electoral Count Act of 1887, I’m told. The measure would fix ambiguities in the ECA that Trump directly exploited with his wide-ranging 2020 plot.

“This is a clear and present threat to democracy,” Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), who is spearheading the bill, told me.

[LonePirate]

1. Unless it is converting the election to popular vote count instead of electoral votes, it's useless.

[brooklynite]

2. So you're saying election reform is useless.

You know there won't be a Constitutional Amendment to eliminate the Electoral College, right?

[LonePirate]

4. I'm saying it is political theater to give the impression that something is being done.

Except it doesn’t really prevent election subversion as state legislatures can still send whatever slate of electors they want, especially in states where the state supreme courts are little more than rubber stamps.

[iluvtennis]

15. + agree. US presidential election is only one governed by Electoral College- it's should be

abolished.

[The Grand Illuminist]

29. Not even close to enough states

To abolish it, even in a constitutional convention.

[thesquanderer]

30. Constitutional amendment may not be required to effectively address the issue...

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact

That said, I would agree that the other reforms being discussed are valuable regardless!

[brooklynite]

31. The NPV compact will never become operational...

The States that have signed on already are the low-hanging fruit. They'll never get enough States to add up to 270 EV, and if they did the agreement would collapse as soon as a State's electoral votes went to a candidate who lost the State.

[oldsoftie]

19. I dont agree with removing the electoral college.

We were never set up to be a "majority rule" country. Or slavery would have lasted longer

[cab67]

24. or ended sooner.

The 3/5 clause to the Constitution not only gave Southern states more House seats than their voting population would otherwise have granted them - it also gave them more electors in presidential elections. This is partly why so many early presidents were pro-slavery southerners.

I go back and forth on whether a popular-vote approach would have actually ended slavery sooner. The sticking point is the Senate. Up until 1847, there were either equal numbers of slave and free states (counting Delaware and Maryland as slave states) or one more free state than slave. That didn't give the senate much room to overcome party divisions when it came to such things. But had the president been elected on a popular vote, the president might not have been a pro-slavery partisan so much of the time, and abominations like Roger Taney might never have become Supreme Court justices. This could have been decisive at times and possibly obviated the need for the "compromises" that enabled slavery to continue. But we'll never know.

[CousinIT]

3. Not enough. Need FTVA and John Lewis VRA too. n/t

[gab13by13]

10. Exactly,

this isn't a new plan, I believe the House passed this a while back.

It is needed though for 2024.

[FakeNoose]

5. It's a baby-step but we have to do SOMETHING

We already know that true reforming of elections in this country involves a Constitutional Amendment that will probably never happen in our lifetime. It's so complicated and time-consuming and the Repukes will fight it in every state. So there you go...

Meanwhile, what can be done instead of a Constitutional Amendment? Well baby-step bills might get us there eventually if we can marshal the political will to see this through.

[calimary]

7. Yep. We HAVE TO! We have to do SOMETHING!

Last time I looked, “something” was viewed as being better and more acceptable than “nothing”.

[KPN]

28. "Something is better than nothing" is a tried and true

catastrophe for the working and middle class as demonstrated by 50 years of results.

The tendency for Ds to continue to settle for less despite all the evidence is really disheartening. Always painted as accepting the “political realities” when the real reality is we are at the front doors of civil war, calamitous global warming threats to human and other species’ existence, already massive but nevertheless growing economic inequality, a pandemic that is may actually win by virtue of our tolerance with current divisive politics, and the complete demise of democracy as we know it!

It strikes me that “something is better than nothing” is THE definition of insanity in today’s context.

[mountain grammy]

14. Exactly!

The Electoral College as a whole is horrific, but at least electors should be chosen by a vote of the people . I have written/called/ emailed both my Senators to support this.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

6. Republicans will block it.

Just because...

[calimary]

9. Then find a work-around.

Or get sneaky and sneak something in when they’re not paying close attention.

The point is Getting It DONE. The “how” is not that important. Frankly, I don’t care HOW it gets done. All I care about is THAT it gets done.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

12. Agreed!

👍👍👍

[AZLD4Candidate]

18. Wow. End Justifies Means. Machiavelli's book still works even today

Not disagreeing with you, just I teach a classical philosophy class and have tried to impart that The Prince is one of the most influential books in the past 600 years.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

33. I took one philosophy class nearly fifty years ago.

It changed my life. I think philosophy and critical thinking classes should be required for everyone

[AZLD4Candidate]

34. You should come to my classes. It's everything I teach

I get the "just teach the facts" nonsense all the time. Then historical experts come in to my class and tell me "I'm teaching exactly how they want me to teach." Been getting "just teach the facts" for going on 18 years now.

I never listen. Now, I get the "student engagement" nonsense. "You do a lot of talking in class. Where is the active participation?" I always respond "You tell me how to DO history other than projects?"

[Grumpy Old Guy]

35. I can't imagine being a professor these days.

You have to put up with a lot of crap.

I worked in broadcast news. They called us the "enemies of the people."

[AZLD4Candidate]

36. I'm told also that I have the greatest part time job in the world.

And I produce nothing.

[Stuart G]

8. No need to "Trump Proof" any election.., Trump has already done that ..Not electable!!!

[AmBlue]

16. The Rs don't care about electability any more

Why should they when the plan is to simply steal it and thwart the will of the voters?

[NQAS]

11. It'll be interesting. . .

If the RW extremists are successful in seeding state election commissions and even local voting stations with fellow travelers, that will potentially be terrifying.

At the same time, it'll be interesting to see what happens when the votes are resoundingly Democratic, and no amount of cheating can undo that outcome. What's the conclusion? They can't even cheat well?

What are the excuses then? It was a false flag. Libtard infiltration. Leftist counterprogramming of election machines.

[CaptainTruth]

13. All good ideas, but we're asking Republicans to give up their ability to steal elections.

I don't see why any significant number of them would go along with it.

[tiredtoo]

17. this is something McConnell wants

not a good thing. How about we just eliminate the electoral college?

[ShazzieB]

22. Just "get rid" of the electoral college?

If only it were that easy.

The electoral college is a big problem, for sure. We'd be better off without it. But it's baked into the Constitution, so it would take a Constitutional amendment to eliminate it, which is incredibly hard to do. Check it out: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/05/amending-the-constitution-is-much-too-hard-blame-the-founders.html

I would LOVE to see thecelectoral college eliminated, but that is not something that can happen quickly, if at all. Too many people would have to all agree, and that is incredibly hard when the country is as polarized as it is right now.

[KPN]

20. The devil is in the details. I'm not sure how this actually

eliminates false claims of rigged elections and counts. Physical counts in 2020 did not prevent Rs from essentially stealing the election. How does this ensure voter suppression is eliminated? Suppress the vote and with electoral college, no matter how the ballots are counted the GQP wins. This seems more like a hocus-pocus smokescreen that gives appearances of fixing yet fixing nothing in terms of election outcome. All it does is eliminate one means of casting doubt on the election, but we know there are literally dozens — in fact we have more reason and reasons to doubt than the Rs.

Get real, stay focus, pass the broader Voter zProtection Act. Stop playing along with our obvious enemy.

[Nevilledog]

21. It doesn't. It's McConnell's gambit to make this the only election bill to pass.

They don't give a shit about the certification of elections. They plan to steal elections before that stage.

[KPN]

25. That makes sense. And we're (Ds) actually going for it?!

[wiggs]

23. Heard on Julie Mason over the weekend that gop reps supposedly approached Pelosi after 1/6

with an impeachment plan that would have bipartisan support. A gop rep claimed this...first time I've heard of that, and I find it highly doubtful that it was serious, but still curious what he was referencing. Anyone hear of such a thing?

Regardless...dem leaders should more frequently blame gop senators for failing to impeach, leading us to this giant mess and existential threat...might help with pressure to revise election and voting laws before it's too late.

[intheflow]

26. Wow, check out this prediction from one of the linked references:

In an interview on CNN on Monday night, House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) warned that Trump’s rhetoric and the actions of some House Republicans may “incite people to do and say things they may not ordinarily do,” adding, “They’re really trying to invite insurrection.”

~ Washington Post, Dec. 8, 2020

Clyburn FTW!

[WarGamer]

27. "Trump-Proof" the 2024 Election by getting more votes than him and winning the EC.

[Hassler]

32. What do Mansion and Enema think about it?

[iemanja]

37. The GOP doesn't need excuses

They want power and will do anything to achieve it.