[Baltimore Sun] It’s up to our nation’s governors to defend Constitution this election

Read Time:3 Minute, 18 Second

Today is Constitution Day! This day reminds us of our obligation as citizens to protect and defend our democracy and the rule of law.

This has been our sacred trust as Americans since that document was signed on Sept. 17, 1787, by George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and the other Founding Fathers, including three Marylanders.

Constitution Day is also a reminder to those serving in high office of the enormous responsibility that accompanies the public’s trust.

I know this charge well, having led Maryland as governor. This year, the designated executives of all 50 states and the District of Columbia will have a new and crucial obligation under the law as they seek to uphold their duty to our Constitution. In virtually every state, that designated executive is the governor.

As a result of bipartisan reforms enacted by Congress in 2022, governors now sit at the pinnacle of the presidential election certification process. It falls to the governors, ultimately, to ensure that they deliver the all-important certificates of ascertainment, which confirm their state’s slate of electors, to the National Archives (and, subsequently, to Congress) no later than Dec. 11. Failure to do so risks the disenfranchisement of all their states’ voters.

That’s why today I have joined 18 other former Democratic and Republican governors, sending a letter to the sitting governors of all 50 states and the mayor of the District of Columbia reminding them of this responsibility and urging them to comply fully with the new law.

Until the 2022 reforms, made through the bipartisan Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA) championed by our own Sen. Ben Cardin, Congress had largely left it up to each state to determine its own certification process and timeline.

Many states placed final responsibility with the governor — but not all. The previous system risked delays, partisan obstruction and challenges once Congress convened to tally electoral votes. Four years ago, I watched with concern as one of the presidential candidates called governors in two states and asked them, improperly, to refuse or postpone certification of electoral votes.

After subsequent, baseless challenges to some states’ electoral-vote certificates on Jan. 6, 2021, and the violent assault on the Capitol that day, lawmakers from both parties recognized the urgent need to fix the system and remove ambiguities.

Now, as a result of the ECRA, the process and timeline for certification in every state is clear. Federal law now designates governors as the final authority over delivering completed certificates of ascertainment, except in the rare instance in which a state law designates another executive. Governors must, by law, deliver signed certificates of ascertainment no later than Dec. 11 this year.

Governors not only have a central role in ensuring a smooth and legally sound process between Nov. 5 and Dec. 11; they have the power to prevent chaos as well. Our bipartisan letter urges the governors to agree publicly in advance that they will uphold their duty under law and adhere to the process and timeline the ECRA prescribes. Putting governors on the record that they will not permit efforts to delay or obstruct the process is critical.

We remind all of the ECRA’s new guardrails in place. “While there is much to debate on the campaign trail,” our letter reads, “we expect all candidates and the American people will agree that this time-honored process during our post-election period is not open for debate. It is simply a ministerial and administrative duty.” That was my ethos when I led our state. It must be every governor’s this year too.

Millions of Americans are now concentrating on what will happen leading up to and on Nov. 5. It is essential, however, that those tasked with ensuring that Americans’ votes are respected keep their focus on the days and weeks that follow Election Day. Our Constitution demands that attention.

Parris N. Glendening was Maryland’s governor from 1995 to 2003.