Several changes to U.S. elections were incorporated into the omnibus spending bill that has now passed Congress. The provisions of the Electoral Count Reform Act that made their way into the new legislation have the following effects:
• State legislatures cannot change how electors are chosen after Election Day.
• The threshold to object to the counting of votes—currently one member of each house of Congress—will be raised to one-fifth of the members of each chamber.
• Explicit acknowledgment is made of the purely ceremonial role of the President of the Senate in the counting of electoral votes.
• Time limits are added to challenges to election outcomes, adding further pressure beyond the already short period between the completion of vote counting and inauguration.
