We strongly urge the U.S. Congress, during its lame-duck session, to pass commonsense revisions to the Electoral Count Act (ECA) to prevent a recurrence of seditious attacks on future presidential elections.

The ECA was adopted in 1887 to prevent a repetition of the fraud and uncertainty arising from the disputed election of President Rutherford Hayes in 1876. During the 133 years between the passage of the original ECA and the Jan. 6, 2021, MAGA insurrection against the U.S. Capitol, the certification and counting of presidential electors had been carried out according to the ECA's procedures without noticeable controversy or any real threat to the orderly transfer of power.