By David Morgan

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Following the twin defeats of Democrats on a voting rights bill, a bipartisan group is considering the possibility of passing a more moderate law to protect election results and prevent harassment of elected officials.

A group of Republican senators led by Susan Collins, along with conservative Democrats Joe Manchin & Kyrsten Sinema will meet virtually on Friday to talk about reforming the 1887 Electoral Count Act. This Act allows Congress members to challenge presidential election results.

Representatives of members of the group had to meet with staff on Thursday in order to talk about options.

An effort was made by Donald Trump and Republican allies to overturn his presidential victory on January 6, 2017, when thousands of Trump supporters stormed Congress and stopped the certification process of electoral results.

Participating members believe that there might be bipartisan support to limit Congress’s ability to interfere.

Manchin said to reporters that there was a win. Manchin said, “Oh, my God, that was what caused the rebellion.”

Manchin spoke out after Sinema, he and he stopped an effort by other Democrats to change the Senate’s 60-vote threshold on most legislation. Instead they passed sweeping voting rights legislation in a simple majority.

Democrats require all members of their caucus to vote in favor overturning the Senate filibuster rule, which is a 60-vote rule. Manchin and Sinema opposed the bill after Republicans used filibuster as a way to prevent Democrats from passing voting-rights legislation for the fifth time.

Concerns about the integrity and fairness of America’s election system have been raised by the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot as well as a series of restrictive voting laws passed in Republican-led States.

Other elected officials and lawmakers, such as Republicans who refute Trump’s claims of massive voter fraud in 2020 have been harassed and removed from office.

Senators indicated that they could meet Wednesday’s Democratic voting rights failure with limited legislation to curb congressional interference in elections.

The people trying to reverse the election were focused on how they could use that act to subvert the will of people. “There’s an interest in clarifying it,” Republican Senator Mitt Romney told reporters.

The time is short for legislators to take action. The campaigning for the November 8th elections is well underway. Republicans have a strong chance of regaining a majority in at minimum one of Congress’s chambers. Texas will host the first nomination contests on March 1.

Congress must also agree in the coming month to continue funding the government, or some federal functions will be partially shut down starting February 18.

According to someone familiar, the group also considers proposals for protecting elected officials against harassment and unwarranted expulsion from office.

Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader has stated that ECA reform merits discussion in comments which Democrats including Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer dismissed later.

According to his aides, McConnell will wait to see the results of these discussions before making a decision. McConnell used a similar strategy last year for bipartisan infrastructure negotiations, which resulted in a $1 trillion bill that he supported.