Update to electors law desperately needed, senators declare

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., talks with reporters as the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 1, 2022. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Manchin are making the case for overhauling the 1800s-era Electoral Count Act. The two senators pushed Aug. 3, for quick passage of their bipartisan compromise that would make it harder for a losing candidate to overturn the legitimate results of a presidential election.(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democrat Joe Manchin made the case on Wednesday for overhauling the 1800s-era Electoral Count Act, pushing for quick passage of a bipartisan compromise that would make it harder for a losing candidate to overturn legitimate results of a presidential election.

Proposals from their group of 16 senators — nine Republicans and seven Democrats — are a response to former President Donald Trump and his allies pushing courts, state legislatures and Congress to somehow overturn his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden.

Trump’s efforts culminated in the violence of Jan. 6, 2021, when hundreds of his supporters pushed past police and broke into the Capitol as Congress was certifying the results.