The election reform idea gaining currency on the right

SO IT’S NUKE THE FILIBUSTER OR BUST, RIGHT? Maybe not. The conservative commentariat has suddenly rallied around another idea: reforming the Electoral Count Act. That’s the 19th-century law that outlines a convoluted process to certify each state’s electoral votes. Trump seized on the seeming ambiguities and weak points of the poorly written law to try to throw out or replace legitimate slates of JOE BIDEN electors. The attack on the Capitol happened when MIKE PENCE and others refused to go along.

In recent weeks, Cato, National Review, the Washington Examiner and AEI’s Yuval Levin have all editorialized in favor of reforming the Electoral Count Act. Liberals and academics have been on board for a while.

If Senate Republicans united in favor of ECA reform as their main alternative to Schumer’s legislation, it could complicate the majority leader’s plan. If the Senate passed a narrow ECA reform bill, would it take the air out of the push for filibuster reform?

We’re told Schumer views ECA reform on its own as completely inadequate. It is a minor reform compared with the Freedom to Vote Act or the John Lewis bill and would have no impact on this year’s midterm elections, which loom as the near-term contest spurring Democrats to action. But reforming the ECA is arguably the single most important tweak to America’s creaky presidential election system that could prevent a future unscrupulous president from succeeding where Trump failed.