Rogue Democratic strongholds in states like California will no longer continue counting votes for weeks past Election Day, if a new bill by Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) becomes law.
Pfluger introduced the Restoring American Confidence in Elections Act following a call from President-elect Donald Trump calling for election vote counts to conclude by 10pm.
“You know, there’s still counting the vote in some areas, can you believe this?” Trump said during a January 7 press conference at Mar-a-Lago.
“We’ve got to fix the elections [so] that we get honest counts and they get done by 10 o’clock in the evening, or something thereabouts,” he added.
Pfluger has answered Trump’s call by introducing his new legislation Thursday.
“The past two elections have been completely unprecedented marked by enormous increases in mail in ballot totals, longer early voting periods, and prolonged certification decisions from states,” Pfluger said in an exclusive statement to Breitbart News.
“As we return to a sense of normalcy with President Trump back in office, it is time we do the same with our elections.”
Fed Elections Race Act Pfluger
Republicans are often on the wrong end of post-election Day vote counting. Shawn Steel, the Republican National Committee members for California, told Breitbart News Sunday host Joel Pollak in December that Democrats won several congressional seats in the Golden State because ballots received after Election Day were counted — a practice that would have been illegal in other states.
“It all goes back to COVID, the way they changed the laws … they flooded the market with absentee ballots to everybody,” Steel said.
His wife, former Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA), lost narrowly to Democratic challenger Derek Tran by 603 votes, though she led by 10,000 on Election Day. Rep. Steel won Election Day votes, and even absentee ballots, but lost big among ballots collected in drop boxes.
Steel noted that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had struck down state laws that allowed ballots to be counted after Election Day, even if they had been postmarked by Election Day. The RNC had challenged a Mississippi law that allowed such ballots to be counted.
Pfluger believes his legislation would promote election integrity and restore public faith in elections.
“There is absolutely no reason vote counts should exceed 10pm on the date of the election, or that certification should take more than 48 hours, yet we have witnessed both occur in the past two elections,” Pfluger said. “This bill helps end this kind of nonsense and ensures we have efficient, free, and fair elections that deliver timely, accurate, and decisive results to the American people.”
Republicans hold a small majority in the House, which they would like to hold in the mid-term elections in 2026. If Pfluger’s bill becomes law, Republicans might be fighting on a more level playing field.
Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye
