Several senators, led by Senator Ted Cruz, say they will reject the results of the Electoral College unless a committee is appointed to conduct a 10-day audit of the results. Congress is scheduled to count the Electoral College votes on January 6th.
“We intend to vote on Jan. 6 to reject voters from the disputed states as not” regularly given “and” legally certified “(the legal requirement), unless the 10-day emergency audit is completed.” , the group said in a statement Saturday.
Cruz’s group works separately from the Republican senator Josh Hawley in his effort to challenge the results of the Electoral College when Congress is convened on Wednesday. Dozens of House Republicans are also expected to challenge President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, even though the Electoral College cast its 306 electoral votes in December.
These latest challenges will not change the outcome of the election and Mr Biden will be inaugurated on January 20th. The list of Republican lawmakers challenging the results includes some of the party’s biggest rising stars, and those efforts are an attempt to favor President Trump and his base.
Cruz works 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, senators say they are trying to restore faith in the democratic process, due to allegations of electoral fraud. Trump’s legal team was repeatedly unable to provide evidence of election fraud in several lawsuits that challenged election results.
The statement cites the 1876 election, when Congress appointed an Electoral Commission in early 1877 to study and resolve disputed electoral returns.
“Congress should immediately appoint an electoral commission, with full authority to investigate and investigate facts, to conduct a 10-day emergency audit of electoral declarations in disputed states. Once completed, individual states they would evaluate the Commission ‘s findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if necessary, “the statement said.
He joint session of the Congress the law requires ratification of presidential results, but also allows “members to oppose any state’s statements as they are announced,” according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
Hawley has so far been the only Republican senator to pledge to contest the election votes in one state-of-the-art effort to hand Mr. Trump a second term after previous efforts to challenge election results failed, including the losses of several lawsuits filed by the campaign.
“At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of election fraud and take steps to ensure the integrity of our election. But Congress has so far failed to act,” Hawley said last week.
However, some Republicans see Hawley’s effort as detrimental to Democratic institutions and accuse him of making a cynical strategy to gain the support of Trump voters ahead of a potential 2024 presidential candidacy.
In a biting look tweet last week, Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger said Hawley’s “internal monologue” while posting his statement was, “I want to be president, so I decided to try to get POTUS ‘tweet to say I’m great even though I know that doesn’t go anywhere, but hey … I’ll blame someone else when I fail. “
Republican Sen. Ben Sasse on Wednesday posted a lengthy Facebook post saying anyone trying to challenge the election results was “playing with fire.”
“Let’s be clear what’s going on here: we have a group of ambitious politicians who think there’s a quick way to take advantage of the president’s populist base without doing any real long-term damage. But they’re wrong, and this issue is bigger than the no one’s personal ambitions.Adults don’t aim a gun loaded at the heart of legitimate self-government, ”Sasse said.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called the upcoming election voting certification “the most consistent vote” in a call to senators this week, according to Sen. Mitt Romney, who was in the call. Romney told reporters Friday that he interpreted McConnell’s comments to mean 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 were irregularities. Today I have people who say ‘hey, do you know what you are “I really won,” but I didn’t, I clearly lost. Of course, there have always been irregularities, but spreading such rumors that our electoral system is not working is dangerous for democracy here and abroad. “
In their statement, the senators acknowledged that they “fully expect the majority, if not all Democrats, and perhaps more than a few Republicans, to vote against” and accept the election results.
“A fair and credible audit, conducted quickly and completed long before Jan. 20, would dramatically improve Americans’ faith in our electoral process and significantly improve the legitimacy of whoever becomes our next president. We owe that. to the people, “the statement said. . “We are not acting to frustrate the democratic process, but to protect it. And each of us should act together to ensure that the election is held legally in accordance with the Constitution and do everything possible to restore faith in the our democracy “.