Several senators, led by Senator Ted Cruz, say they will reject the electoral college results unless a committee is appointed to conduct a 10-day audit of the results. Congress is going to count the Electoral College will vote on 6 January.
“We plan to vote on January 6 to dismiss voters from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘legally certified’ (the legal requirement) unless and until that 10-day emergency check is completed. ” , the group said in a statement on Saturday.
Cruz’s group works separately from the Republican senator Josh Hawley in its bid to challenge the results of the electoral college when Congress meets Wednesday. Dozens of House Republicans are also expected to challenge President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, even as the Electoral College confirmed its 306 election votes in December.
These last-ditch challenges will not change the outcome of the election, and Mr Biden will be inaugurated on January 20. Biden’s transition team spokesman Michael Gwin called the efforts of these Republicans a “stunt.”
“This stunt does not change the fact that President-elect Biden will be sworn in on January 20, and these baseless claims have already been investigated and dismissed by Trump’s own attorney general, dozens of courts and election officials from both parties,” Gwin said.
The list of Republican lawmakers contesting the results includes some of the party’s biggest rising stars, and these efforts are an attempt to gain favor with President Trump and his base.
Cruz is working with Senators Ron Johnson, James Lankford, Steve Daines, John Kennedy, Marsha Blackburn, and Mike Braun, and elected Senators Cynthia Lummis, Roger Marshall, Bill Hagerty, and Tommy Tuberville. Only one of these senators, Johnson of Wisconsin, represents a state won by Mr. Biden.
In their statement, the senators allege they are trying to restore confidence in the democratic process, over claims of voter fraud. Mr. Trump’s legal team has repeatedly been unable to provide evidence of voter fraud in several lawsuits challenging the election results.
The statement cites the election of 1876, when Congress appointed an election commission in early 1877 to consider and resolve disputed election results.
Congress should immediately appoint an election committee, with full investigative and information authority, to conduct a 10-day rush audit of election results in the disputed states. Upon completion, individual states would review the Commission’s findings and provide a special legislative session to confirm a change in their vote, if necessary, “the statement said.
The joint session of Congress is required by law to ratify presidential results, but also “allows members to object to an individual state’s returns as announced,” according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
Hawley was previously the only Republican senator to commit to electoral votes in one very last try Sending Trump a second term after previous attempts to challenge the election results failed, including losses from several lawsuits brought by the campaign.
“At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and take steps to ensure the integrity of our elections. But Congress has so far taken no action,” Hawley said last week.
But even some Republicans view the effort of Hawley and others as damaging to Democratic institutions, accusing them of doing a cynical ploy to garner the support of Mr Trump’s voters.
Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey – one of the states that Mr Trump’s supporters may be trying to challenge the election results – denounced the actions of Hawley, Cruz and others in a statement on Saturday.
A fundamental defining feature of a Democratic Republic is the right of the people to choose their own leaders. The efforts of Senators Hawley, Cruz and others to reverse the 2020 presidential election results in swing states like Pennsylvania undermine this. right straight., “Toomey said.” I voted for President Trump and supported him for re-election. But on Wednesday, I plan to vigorously defend our form of government by opposing this attempt to deprive millions of voters in my state and others from the right to vote. ”
In a devastating tweet Last week, Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger said Hawley’s “internal monologue” while releasing his statement was, “I want to run for president, so I decided to try and get a POTUS tweet that said I’m great, even though I know that This isn’t going anywhere, but hey … I’ll blame someone else if it doesn’t work out. “
Republican Senator Ben Sasse published a lengthy Facebook post on Wednesday saying that anyone who wanted to challenge the election results was “playing with fire.”
Let’s be clear what’s going on here: we have a bunch of ambitious politicians who think there’s a quick way to tap into the president’s populist base without doing any real, long-term damage. But they’re wrong – and this issue is bigger than anyone’s personal ambitions. Adults don’t point with a loaded gun at the heart of legitimate self-government, “Sasse said.
Meanwhile, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell called the upcoming election certification “the most consistent vote” on a call with senators this week, according to Senator Mitt Romney, on the line. Romney told reporters on Friday that he interpreted McConnell’s comments to mean that the vote is a “referendum on our democracy.”
“Look, I lost in 2012, I know what it’s like to lose,” said Romney, who ran for president in 2012. “And there were people who said there are irregularities. I have people today who say: “Hey, you know what you are. Really won” – but I didn’t, I lost fair and square. Of course there were always irregularities, but spreading rumors like this that our electoral system is not working is dangerous to democracy in at home and abroad. ‘
In their statement, the senators acknowledged that they “fully expect most, if not all, Democrats, and perhaps more than a few Republicans, to vote differently” and accept the election results.
“A fair and credible audit, conducted swiftly and completed well before January 20, would dramatically improve Americans’ confidence in our election process and significantly strengthen the legitimacy of whoever becomes our next president. We owe that to the people,” he said. the explanation. . “We are not acting to thwart the democratic process, but rather to protect it. And we must all work together to ensure that elections are lawful under the Constitution, and to do all we can to build trust in our democracy. to recover.”