Ross: A ‘little-known act’ should not be used to subvert an election
Dec 29, 2020, 6:35 AM | Updated: 9:32 am

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures towards guests as he departs on the South Lawn of the White House, on Dec. 12, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images)
(Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images)
I saw a headline about the Electoral Count Act of 1887, and it said: “The little-known Act could give Donald Trump 4 more years …”
There’s that phrase again – “little-known act.”
We DO pass a lot of laws, and my guess is 99% of them would qualify as little-known – and I’m not saying that’s necessarily bad.
There was a “little-known” clause in the COVID act that allows college students to collect unemployment.
And it was the “little-known” Defense Production Act which got companies to make more protective equipment.
But in the case of THIS little-known election act from 1887, some senators plan to use it to exclude the electoral votes of Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin from the formal count on Jan. 6.
This is a process known as a coup by everyone – except the politicians trying to pull it off, who see it as simply following a “little-known act.”
But it’s wrong to use a little-known act to subvert an election. Subverting an election should require a well-known act.
That’s why I hope the next Congress will take a really close look at these little-known acts – and get to know them better. So that if they’re GOOD little-known acts, we can publicize them and use them more often, and if they’re BAD little-known acts, they can be repealed before someone ACTUALLY manages to undermine our little-known Constitution.
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