Count Every Vote Act of 2020
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on House Administration.
Count Every Vote Act of 2020
This bill revises the electoral college's time frame for presidential elections, particularly with regard to the meeting of electors and the counting of electoral votes.
First, the bill requires states to make final determinations of controversies or contests as to the appointment of electors within three (instead of six) days before the electors meet in their respective states to cast their votes for President and Vice President.
Further, it extends the date for state electors to meet and vote from the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December following their appointment to the first day after January 1 following their appointment.
In addition, it requires states to deliver certificates of electoral votes in the most expeditious method available, including by overnight delivery or a secure form of electronic transmission. Currently, states may transmit these certificates only by registered mail.
Finally, the bill changes the date for the joint session of Congress to count electoral votes from the sixth day of January succeeding the meeting of the state electors to the second day following the extended deadline for the receipt of certificates and votes by the President of the Senate or the Archivist of the United States.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on October 1, 2020. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on October 1, 2020: Referred to the House Committee on House Administration.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
DAVID PRICE (D-NC) introduced it on October 1, 2020, and 7 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 7 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on October 1, 2020, 2170 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2170 days ago, on October 1, 2020.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers