Merkley advances Electoral Count Reform Act

Nearly two years after the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, lawmakers are working to keep something like that from happening again.

Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley is on the rules committee. He just voted to send the Electoral Count Reform Act to a full vote in the senate.

Merkley says misconceptions about the vice president's role in confirming a presidential election led to people storming the capitol.

This bill would clarify that the Vice President's role is only ceremonial and make sure each state's electoral votes reflect how each state voted.

"What that piece is all about, it's not having a party perhaps say we want to change the electors because we disagree with the outcome of our state, so we'll get somebody who will vote the opposite of the side they're being appointed to or something of that nature any type of confusion or a refusal to vote and sign the document," said Merkley.

The full Senate is expected to vote after the November election.

Merkley is also introducing the Election Worker Protection Act, which has the goal of protecting election workers and addressing a rise in threats.

"Those who volunteer to support the counting process should never be threatened, they should never be harassed, they should never be intimidated, so this bill clarifies kind of best practices for providing physical security for protecting their privacy of volunteers information."

15 secretaries of state, including Oregon's Secretary, are in support of this act and are calling on Congress to take action.