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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 2022)
THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2022 A13 Consequences of Jan. 6 attack Senate bills would change Electoral Count Act A bipartisan group of sena- tors agreed Wednesday on pro- posed changes to the Electoral Count Act, the post-Civil War- era law for certifying presiden- tial elections that came under intense scrutiny after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and Don- ald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. Long in the making, the package introduced by the group led by Sens. Susan Col- lins of Maine and Joe Man- chin of West Virginia is made up of two separate proposals. One would clarify the way states submit electors and the vice president tallies the votes in Congress. The other would bolster security for state and local election officials who have faced violence and ha- rassment. Nolan Continued from A1 Nolan comes from hum- ble beginnings. She grew up in Washington, and her fam- ily moved around a lot. She didn’t come from money, so she worked three jobs throughout high school. She had planned to join the mili- tary while pursuing a college degree after graduating from the Redmond Proficiency Academy in 2020. Then the first wave of the pandemic hit. She lost her jobs, and her priorities changed. “My whole world fell apart in my eyes,” she said. Then she found Kitty Lauman, a horse trainer in Prineville. On a whim, No- lan acted on a childhood desire to learn more about horses. She decided to try working with horses for a year. It only took a month “We have developed legislation that establishes clear guidelines for our system of certifying and counting electoral votes” “From the beginning, our bipartisan group has shared a vision of drafting legislation to fix the flaws of the archaic and ambiguous Electoral Count Act of 1887,” Collins, Manchin and the other 14 senators said in a joint statement. “We have developed leg- islation that establishes clear guidelines for our system of certifying and counting elec- toral votes,” the group wrote. “We urge our colleagues in both parties to support these simple, commonsense re- forms.” Both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell have sig- naled support for the bipar- tisan group, but the final leg- islative package will undergo careful scrutiny. Votes are not likely before BY LISA MASCARO Associated Press — Bipartisan group proposing changes to electoral college count fall. But with broad support from the group of 16 sena- tors, seven Democrats and nine Republicans, who have worked behind closed doors for months with the help of outside experts, serious con- sideration is assured. In a statement, Matthew Weil, executive director of the Democracy Program at the Bi- partisan Policy Center, called the framework a “critical step” in shoring up ambiguities in the Electoral Count Act. After Trump lost the 2020 election, the defeated presi- dent orchestrated an unprec- edented attempt to challenge rity, would double the federal penalties to up to two years in prison for individuals who “threaten or intimidate elec- tion officials, poll watchers, voters or candidates,” accord- ing to the summary. It also would seek to im- prove the way the U.S. Postal Service handles election mail and “provide guidance to states to improve their mail-in bal- lot processes.” Mail-in ballots and the role of the Postal Ser- vice came under great scrutiny during the 2020 election. An Associated Press re- view of potential cases of voter fraud in six battleground states found no evidence of widespread fraud that could change the outcome of the election. A separate AP review of drop boxes used for mailed ballots also found no signifi- cant problems. for her to fall in love with the country lifestyle. Now she spends her days, sunup to sundown, in the dirt. “There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not with horses,” she said. Lauman was a catalyst in Nolan’s pursuit of the rodeo queen title. Lauman was ro- deo royalty herself several decades ago. In order to thrive with Lauman and with the horses, Nolan had to ad- mit that she knew nothing there. In order to find her strengths, she had to admit her shortcomings. This is what drives her as rodeo queen, too. “I wanted to show peo- ple that even though I didn’t grow up surrounded by all of this, I can still do it,” No- lan said. █ 541-633-2160 akaminski@bendbulletin.com Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin 4-H and FFA member Lexee Wittenberg, 17, of Culver, washes her steer, Cuervo, on Wednesday at the Jefferson County Fair in Madras. Plan your 2023 Getaway! ALASKA: CALL OF THE WILD 7 DAYS AUGUST 17-23, 2023 DAY 1: ARRIVE ANCHORAGE DAY 2: ANCHORAGE, RAIL JOURNEY, DENALI NATIONAL PARK DAY 3: DENALI NATIONAL PARK, TUNDRA WILDERNESS TOUR DAY 4: DENALI, SEWARD DAY 5: SEWARD, GLACIER & WILDLIFE CRUISE DAY 6: SEWARD AS YOU WISH, DAY AT LEISURE DAY 7: SEWARD, ANCHORAGE, FLIGHT HOME HIGHLIGHTS Anchorage 2 Nights In Denali 3 Nights in Seward Domed Rail Journey Denali Nat’l Park Tundra Wilderness Tour Mt. McKinley Kenai Fjords National Park Glacier & Wildlife Cruise Seward the electors sent from bat- tleground states to the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, when the vice president pre- sides over certification. Under the proposed changes, the law would be updated to ensure the gover- nor from each state is initially responsible for submitting electors, as a way to safeguard against states sending alterna- tive or fake elector slates. Additionally, the law would spell out that the vice presi- dent presides over the joint session in a “solely ministe- rial” capacity, according to a summary page. It says the vice president “does not have any power to solely determine, ac- cept, reject, or otherwise adju- dicate disputes over electors.” That provision is a direct re- action to Trump’s relentless ef- forts to pressure then Vice Pres- ident Mike Pence to reject the electors being sent from certain battleground states as a way to halt the certification or tip it away from Joe Biden’s victory. The bill also specifies the procedures around presi- dential transitions, including when the election outcome is disputed, to ensure the peace- ful transfer of power from one administration to the next. That’s another pushback to the way Trump blocked Biden’s team from accessing some information for his tran- sition to the White House. The second proposal, re- volving around election secu- INCLUSIONS: Roundtrip Airfare - PDX or RDM (+$250pp) Professional Tour Director 6 Nights First Class Hotel Accommodations Deluxe Motorcoach Transportation Domed Rail Journey - Anchorage to Denali 10 Meals: 6B, 2L & 2D Roundtrip Hotel Transfers Sightseeing & Admissions per Itinerary Baggage Handling at all Hotels & Lodges ACCOMMODATIONS: 1 Night: Hilton or Sheraton, Anchorage 2 Nights: Denali Park Village or Denali Bluffs, Denali 3 Nights: Windsong Lodge or The Gateway of the Harbour 360, Seward On some dates alternate hotels may be used Visit www.bendbulletin.com/offers/travel for a more detailed look at all trip itineraries. For more information or to book, call (877) 953-8687 x 276
