Republicans should update the Electoral Count Act before it's too late

For starters, a Democratic vice president will be presiding over the Senate when the Electoral College votes are opened. Suppose Trump runs again, and wins. Now, suppose Vice President Harris believes that Trump’s reelection represents an existential threat to the county and does what Trump couldn’t persuade Mike Pence to do.

As of now, neither party can know whether its presidential candidate will be ahead or behind in Electoral College votes or whether it will control the Senate and House in January 2025 to resolve Electoral College vote disputes in its favor. And Trump will not be the commander in chief in 2024 able to wield the threat of invoking the Insurrection Act as a not-so-subtle inducement to —and cover for — allies in Congress if he doesn’t like the way the electoral-vote count is going.

Neither party should think that it can game the system by using the ECA. In fact, of all people, Donald Trump should realize that what goes around often comes around. What seems advantageous in one electoral context often creates unintended consequences down the road.