BFA Brought Business to Capitol Hill for Electoral Count Act Reform
Whenever you hear something more than once on Capitol Hill, it’s worth paying attention. That was certainly the case as BFA led a delegation of business representatives on December 7th and 8th to meet with eight Senate offices about the bipartisan Electoral Count Reform Act. Both Republican and Democrat senior staff told participating companies how unexpected and encouraging it was that businesses were advocating for Congress to update the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act (ECA).
Several Republican staffers in particular noted that they had never heard companies talk about the broader issue of political stability and good governance. As representatives from Bitwise Industries, Cummins, Hannon Armstrong, Marriott, PepsiCo, and Salesforce emphasized, reforming the ECA is essential for restoring confidence among their employees in how the nation selects a president and vice president. Of equal importance is having a clear and undebatable set of rules that create a sense of certainty for businesses dependent on a peaceful transfer of power.
Get Business for America’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
As Charles McCray from Salesforce noted, “While the ECRA is adjacent to our core issues, it’s critical to reducing market risk and thus ensuring that the economy remains strong for our stakeholders.” Hassan Christian of Cummins amplified this point by adding that “the arcane language in the current ECA creates additional costs of doing business.” Erin Hustings of Bitwise Industries explained how reforms to the ECA will “increase the trust their employees, mainly from underrepresented communities, have in the mechanics of our voting system.” And Al Jacobs of Hannon Armstrong explained how “unnerving global investors found the chaos of January 6th. That’s why we need clear rules that don’t favor one party or another or forestall the transition from one administration to the next.”
BFA’s National Policy Director Richard Eidlin coordinated the meetings with help from Brendan Kelsey. The delegation met with staff from Senators Blackburn (R-TN), Braun (R-IN), Manchin (D-WV), Lankford (R-OK), Moran (R-KS), Rubio (R-FL), Shaheen (D-NH) and Scott (R-SC). The group encouraged all the GOP offices to support ECA reform as it gets incorporated into the year-end omnibus spending bill and to join with the now 37 co-sponsors of the bill as an active supporter. A telephone meeting was also held with senior staff from Rep. Lofgren’s office (D-CA) to express the business community’s appreciation for her leadership in the House on reforming the ECA.
Our Hill meetings capped a 8-month campaign to educate companies about the business case for updating the ECA, which included a sign-on letter and several informational webinars with senior staff from Senator Collins’ (R-ME) and Klobuchar’s (D-MN) offices. BFA’s business-centric campaign involved a wide range of companies noted above, as well as Aspen Skiing Company, Hims & Hers, IBM, IKEA, Patagonia, REI Co-op, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Sonos, and Yotta DB, and business groups American Sustainable Business Network, Reform Elections Now, and the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce.
Throughout the campaign, strategic conversations were held with a larger group of companies. Our thanks to Professor Rick Pildes from the NYU School of Law and Research Fellow Thomas Berry of the Cato Institute for their important political and technical insights during these briefings. Senator Schumer has indicated that ECA reform is a top priority to include in the year-end omnibus spending bill.
For more information about our ECRA business sign-on letter or campaign, please contact Richard Eidlin.
