Some ECA-reform advocates worry that even if Schumer was somehow able to get Manchin and Sinema to agree to sweeping reforms, including ECA updates, and pass them through the Senate on a party-line vote (with Harris’s tiebreaker), it would be a Pyrrhic victory. Edward Foley, a law professor at Ohio State University who has been one of the leading proponents of ECA reform, told me that the most important characteristic of ECA reform is not any of the details but that it be enacted with buy-in from both parties, so that both parties feel more bound to it come the next presidential certification.

“The method the Democrats are pursuing is this unilateral Democratic modification of the filibuster to then get Democrat-only votes for electoral reform,” he said. “That frankly is the kiss of death for ECA reform for this reason: Whatever else you think about other reforms, ECA reforms cannot be done by either party unilaterally, because the opposite party’s not going to accept that if it happens to be in power on January 6, 2025.”

Perhaps Foley is too optimistic about the prospects for Republicans following even their own ECA reforms, but if the alternative is to leave a menacing law in place, the gamble seems worth taking. And time is of the essence: The sooner the 2022 midterm election gets, and the more confident Republicans get of their chances of victory, the harder it will be to make any changes.