Presidential Election Project

The Presidential Election Project is a nonprofit organization focused on securing reforms to the Electoral Count Act.

Electoral Count Act Reform

Electoral Count Act reform clearly defined the role of the Vice President and significantly raised the threshold required to object to counting a state’s electoral votes. The Vice President is in a ceremonial position and is not tasked with determining the outcome of any election.

Democrats have a long history of contesting elections and rejecting the legitimacy of their election losses.

Republicans helped clarify the rules that make it harder for Democrats to contest and overturn a future Republican victory.

Electoral Count Act Reform

Yuval Levin, American Enterprise Institute:

“The most essential reforms of the ECA involve clarifying the very limited role of Congress and the vice president in the counting and certification of electoral votes, raising the threshold for congressional objections to state electoral slates, and constraining the range of allowable objections.”

Wall Street Journal Editorial Board:

Yuval Levin, American Enterprise Institute:

"The Electoral Count Act was an attempt to avoid the mess that followed the contested 1876 Hayes-Tilden election, but its ambiguous language has made it open to abuse.”

Wall Street Journal Editorial Board:

Kevin Kosar, American Enterprise Institute:

“One aspect of the act that is ripe for exploitation is the provision allowing a state legislature to decide how to choose electors if the state has somehow ‘failed to make a choice’ on Election Day. Some have incorrectly suggested this vague language means state lawmakers could use any number of trumped-up excuses to override the will of the voters and unilaterally appoint electors of their choosing.”

Kevin Kosar, American Enterprise Institute:

“But ask yourself: Does it make any sense for us to trust that Vice President Harris or any future vice presidents will inevitably do the right thing? Our entire constitutional system is designed with the understanding that men, as James Madison put it, are not angels…Common sense dictates that we act to ensure that no vice president ever steals an election. This can be done by amending the Electoral Count Act of 1887.”