House passes overhaul of electoral count, moving to avert another Jan. 6 crisis

WASHINGTON — The House on Wednesday took the first major step to respond to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, voting mostly along party lines to overhaul the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act, the law that former President Donald Trump tried to exploit that day to overturn his defeat.

The bill was the most significant legislative answer yet to the riot and the monthslong campaign by Trump and his allies to invalidate the 2020 presidential election, but it also underscored the lingering partisan divide over Jan. 6 and the former president’s continuing grip on his party.

It cleared a divided House, passing on a 229-203 vote. All but nine Republicans opposed the measure, wary of angering Trump and unwilling to back legislation co-written by Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., a leader of the House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 and what led to them.

The partisan division could complicate future negotiations with the Senate, which is moving ahead with its own bipartisan version of the legislation that differs from the House bill in some significant respects. Lawmakers now say they do not expect final approval before Congress returns for a lame-duck session after the Nov. 8 midterm elections.

The legislation is aimed at updating the law that governs Congress’ counting of the electoral votes cast by the states, the final step under the Constitution to confirm the results of a presidential election and historically a mostly ceremonial process. Democrats said that the aftermath of the 2020 election — in which Trump and his allies’ attempts to throw out legitimate electoral votes led to the violent disruption of the congressional count by his supporters Jan. 6 — made clear that the statute needed to be changed.

One key provision in the bill, which is also contained in the Senate proposal, would clarify that the role of the vice president, who by law presides over the counting of the ballots as president of the Senate, is strictly ministerial.

The measure also would raise the threshold substantially for Congress to consider an objection to a state’s electoral votes, requiring that at least one-third of the House and Senate sign on to such a challenge. The Senate proposal has a lower threshold, requiring one-fifth of the House and Senate to agree.