Electoral Count Reform Act Advocacy — a Timeline
MWEG began working on advocating for an update to the Electoral Count Act in the summer of 2021 and continued working on this until the Electoral Count Reform Act was passed as part of the omnibus spending bill in December 2022. Following our pattern of member engagement, we worked to inform through library pieces and other content, invite to act through direct calls to action to write letters or make phone calls, and involve through constituent meetings with legislators as well as op-eds and letters to the editor.
2021
July
Began laying the groundwork by researching the issue and reaching out to key legislators and coalition organizations
October
Began initial meetings and work with Protect Democracy coalition organizations (ongoing throughout entire process)
November
Published an op-ed in the Salt Lake Tribune (Erin Young and Wendy Dennehy, MWEG’s Protecting Democracy advocacy managers)
Published an MWEG Library piece providing background information on the Electoral Count Act and potential updates
December
Created “Updating the ECA” informational sheet
Launched first “call to action” to contact legislators about updating the ECA
Shared informational posts about the ECA on our social media accounts (start of an ongoing social media campaign sharing information, op-eds, calls to action, etc. about updating the ECA)
Published an op-ed in the Deseret News (Jamie Shaw and Barbara Price, MWEG members)
Provided ECA modernization training sessions with MWEG chapter leadership
Began efforts to connect constituents with their legislators by organizing and holding meetings with key legislators’ offices to talk about the importance of updating the ECA
Received legislative outreach to MWEG constituent as a result of CTA letter
2022
February
Published an op-ed in the Austin-American Statesmen (Stacie Smith, MWEG TX chapter leader, and Meredith Gardner, MWEG media literacy director)
Published an op-ed in the Deseret News (Audrey Perry Martin, MWEG member)
March-May
Continued legislative outreach, including holding constituent meetings with key legislators’ offices
June
Invited MWEG members to submit letters to the editor about updating the ECA
Promoted a call to action, which led to more than 600 letters written and sent to senators about updating the ECA
Hand-delivered 600+ constituent letters to legislators’ offices in Washington, D.C.
Continued legislative outreach, including holding constituent meetings with key legislators’ offices
July
Published an op-ed in the Deseret News (Lisa Grow Sun, MWEG UT chapter member)
Published a letter to the editor in the Logan Herald Journal (Patrica Sadoski, MWEG UT chapter member)
August
Published a letter to the editor in the Lincoln Journal Star (Rachel Bonar, MWEG NE member)
Letter to the editor submitted to the Tooele Transcript and Deseret News (Lori Brady, MWEG UT chapter member)
September
Promoted a call to action, which led to 150+ letters written and sent to senators about updating the ECA
Published a letter to the editor in the Deseret News (Deborah Gatrell, MWEG UT chapter member)
Published an MWEG Library piece providing background information about the Electoral Count Reform Act
Hosted an MWEG member meeting with Protect Democracy’s Chris Crawford about the ECRA and how MWEG members could impact this issue
Continued legislative outreach, including holding constituent meetings with key legislators’ offices
Promoted a call to action to make phone calls to the Senate Rules Committee about the ECRA
Published a letter to the editor in the Ogden Standard (Leslie Zabriski, MWEG UT chapter member)
October
Published a letter to the editor in the Sacramento Bee (Patricia Johnson, MWEG CA member)
November
Held strategy meeting for lame duck session
Submitted a letter to the editor to the Arizona Republic (Nancy Kircher, MWEG AZ chapter member)
Published a letter to the editor in the Bangor Daily (Anne Wunderli, MWEG ME member)
December
Continued legislative outreach, including holding constituent meetings with key legislators’ offices
ECRA passes in the Senate as part of the 2022 omnibus bill (12/22/22)
President Biden signs into effect the FY 2023 omnibus spending bill that includes the ECRA (12/29/22)