By Michael Shepherd with David Marino Jr. - Aug. 3, 2022
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📷 Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, speaks during a budget hearing in Washington, May 25, 2022 (Bloomberg photo by Ting Shen via AP)

Good morning from Augusta. There are 97 days until Maine's November elections.

What we're watching today

Changes to the electoral count are moving forward while the former president shows lingering influence over his party. Two days are bringing us a series of conflicting events over the future of U.S. elections.

In Tuesday primaries, Republicans aligned with former President Donald Trump and his 2020 election falsehoods generally prevailed. In Arizona, Trump-backed Senate nominee Blake Masters and attorney general candidate Mark Finchem, both 2020 election deniers, won their primaries. Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan was ousted by a former Trump administration official after voting to impeach the former president over the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021.

At the same time, key Senate Republicans look ready to align with Democrats to overhaul the Electoral College count in a bid to remove political leverage from the process. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, chief backers of the package, will speak at a hearing before a Senate committee on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. to argue for it. Watch it.

The proposal makes several changes to the Electoral Count Act, a 1887 law governing the count, targeting provisions that were exploited by Trump and his allies after the 2020 election. It would affirm the vice president's ceremonial role, ensure states submit one slate of electors, make it harder for members of Congress to challenge slates and speed up the transition process. Another bill floated by the group would increase penalties for threatening election workers or public officials and reauthorize election security grants for states.

The effort emerged after all Republicans and two Democrats blocked a sweeping voting-rights bill that was advanced by the majority party in January. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, blessed the effort shortly after the bigger measure was defeated and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, has backed it as well.

While Democrats want broader protections for voting rights, the emerging consensus on their side favors the Electoral College reform package. A coalition of civil-rights groups said last month the changes were "necessary" despite doing nothing to address voting discrimination and therefore not fighting "a key root cause of the insurrection."

"The Collins-Manchin bill is both a deal Democrats should grab while they can and not enough to fully insulate our elections from the risk of subversion," legal scholar Richard Hasen wrote in Slate. "The key point, though, is that Collins-Manchin is far better than the status quo."

Past increased voting-rights provisions, there are other changes that these experts want. Hasen, for example, argues for mandating voting machines that produce paper records so results can be recounted by neutral arbiters if a result is in dispute as well as clear mandates for state election officials and removal of their authority if they fail to follow state law.

This packages may change as it winds through Congress. The Electoral College reform seems to have the support to pass, while there are only five Republican co-sponsors of the more uncertain bid to increase criminal penalties reauthorize election grants. But this seems like the only deal coming on the issue in a 50-50 Senate. Both parties look willing enough to take it.

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What we're reading

— A textile company in North Monmouth is testing neighboring wells and providing drinking water after discovering levels of "forever chemicals" exceeding a strict new state standard in an example of how private companies may be tasked with remediation in the fight against PFAS.

— Former Gov. Paul LePage said he would not have negotiated with tribes over their sovereignty push, putting firm daylight between the Republican and Gov. Janet Mills. The incumbent Democrat has made progress with tribes but broke with most in her party on sweeping tribal-rights packages.

— Rep. Jared Golden of Maine's 2nd District praised the Manchin-led climate and health care deal that emerged last week, but the Democrat did not commit to voting for it. His Republican opponent, former Rep. Bruce Poliquin, opposes the outlined measure.

— Greater Portland offices are expected to empty more in the next two years with companies still weighing returns to fully in-person work.

— The share of uninsured Mainers dropped sharply after the Mills administration expanded Medicaid, Maine Public reports.

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News and notes

Golden said the killing of al-Qaida's leader was a signal that the U.S. does not need troops in Afghanistan.

— The congressman, a Marine veteran who served in Iraq and long supported a military drawdown in Afghanistan, said the U.S. drone strike that killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was worth celebrating and a sign that the military did not need troops on the ground to meet key anti-terrorism goals.

— “We now have increased capabilities to go after these individuals around the world,” Golden said.

— U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat from the 1st District, also hailed al-Zawahiri's killing in Monday statements after news broke of the strike in Kabul.

Collins was one of 26 Republicans to praise the House speaker's Taiwan trip.

— A group of senators led by McConnell and including Collins released a statement of solidarity with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, as she flew to Taiwan on Tuesday.

— The trip came despite threats of consequences from China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it could annex it by force.

— "For decades, members of the United States Congress, including previous Speakers of the House, have travelled to Taiwan," the senators said.

Photo of the day

📷 Brad Ryder, owner of Epic Sports in downtown Bangor, stands in his business on Tuesday. He plans to close the shop this fall after 25 years in business. (BDN photo by Emily Burnham)

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