Second, the proposal would require the governor to certify the correct electors by a hard deadline before Congress counts them. This is supposed to prevent a governor from certifying the electors for the losing candidate.

What if a state legislature and governor simply ignored those requirements and their constitutional duty?

Well, the proposal would allow an aggrieved candidate to trigger expedited judicial review by a federal three-judge panel, subject to expedited Supreme Court appeal. Under the proposal, Congress would be required to count the electors that the courts deemed the correct one.

Here’s the basic principle at play: The aim is to close off manipulation of the process at both the state and congressional ends. In the proposal, Congress bars state legislatures and governors at the front end from breaking their own laws (or the Constitution) dictating the appointment of electors. If they do so anyway, it triggers automatic judicial review and then requires Congress to count the correct electors at the back end.

“This proposal effectively constrains both state officials and Congress to count the true electors,” legal scholar Matthew Seligman, an expert on the ECA, tells us.