Washington – U.S. Rep. John Katko is among nine House Republicans who broke ranks Wednesday to vote for an electoral reform bill that aims to prevent presidents from overturning election results.
Katko, R-Camillus, and the other Republicans who voted for the Presidential Election Reform Act are retiring from Congress at the end of the year.
Eight of the nine, including Katko, voted to impeach Donald Trump for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, mob attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The attack was a failed attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
The reform bill amends the Electoral Count Act of 1887 and makes clear that the vice president has only a symbolic or “ministerial” role in the vote count and cannot block Congress from certifying a presidential election.
The bill also prohibits state election officials from refusing to count ballots or certify elections held in accordance with laws that exist on Election Day.
Only one other New York Republican joined Katko in voting for the measure – Rep. Chris Jacobs, R-Orchard Park.
Jacobs did not vote to impeach Trump. He is retiring from Congress at the end of the year after Republican leaders abandoned his campaign. Jacobs received backlash over his support for a ban on assault weapons after a mass shooting in Buffalo earlier this year.
Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-New Hartford, was among 203 Republicans who voted against the electoral reform bill.
“It is nothing more than a partisan messaging bill intended to score cheap political points, weeks before an election,” Tenney said in a statement.
A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Susan Collins, R-Maine. The bill has received bipartisan support. As of Wednesday, 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans have signed on as co-sponsors of the legislation.
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