A dozen Republican senators and up to 100 House Republicans, including Utah Reps. Chris Stewart and Burgess Owens, are poised to challenge President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
SALT LAKE CITY — Congress could be in for a long, contentious day on Wednesday.
A dozen Republican senators and up to 100 House Republicans, including Utah Reps. Chris Stewart and Burgess Owens, are poised to challenge the Electoral College vote when lawmakers convene in a joint session to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s 306-232 win.
Vice President Mike Pence will preside over the session where the envelopes from each state and the District of Columbia will be opened alphabetically and the votes tallied. If at least one member of each house objects in writing to a state’s votes, senators will file out of the House chamber so the bodies can debate the issue separately. The process would be repeated for each state for which a challenge is raised.
The objections are anticipated to start with Arizona, and could continue to other swing states including Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin where President Donald Trump lost.
Both houses must vote to sustain the objection for it to matter, and the Democratic-led House is unlikely to go along with any objections to votes for Biden. Otherwise, the votes get counted as certified by the states.
“There may be some twists and turns that we’re not anticipating right now,” said Chris Karpowitz, co-director of the Center for Study of Democracy and Elections at Brigham Young University.
But, he said, there’s not a majority in either chamber to sustain those objections, so this could be “just a very long and divisive and frustrating” process for all concerned.
Stewart posted Monday on Twitter that he will not vote to certify the election.
“After serious thought and consideration, I will not vote to certify the election. I believe there are critical questions that need to be answered concerning our Presidential election,” he wrote.
“Until we have resolved the issues surrounding voting irregularities, ballot integrity and security, and the implementation of state election laws, I can not, in good conscience, uphold the oath I took to protect and defend our constitution by voting to certify the election.”
Until we have resolved the issues surrounding voting irregularities, ballot integrity and security, and the implementation of state election laws, I can not, in good conscience, uphold the oath I took to protect and defend our constitution by voting to certify the election.
— Rep. Chris Stewart (@RepChrisStewart) January 4, 2021
Owens, who was sworn in Sunday, indicated last week that he would challenge the results in part because the outcome “doesn’t make sense to me anecdotally or factually.”
Utah GOP Reps. John Curtis and Blake Moore, who was also sworn in Sunday, both said they will carry out their constitutional duty to listen to both sides of the debate then vote on the merits of any objection.
Despite Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud, state officials have repeatedly said there is no evidence of fraud or other problems that would change the outcome. The states have certified their results as fair and valid. Of the more than 50 lawsuits the president and his allies have filed challenging election results, nearly all have been dismissed or dropped. Trump also lost twice at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The president has intensified his effort to hang on to the White House, including in a phone call to Georgia officials disclosed Sunday. On the call, Trump can be heard pressuring the Georgia secretary of state to “find” him more votes.
Karpowitz called the phone call “shocking.”
“It’s shocking to hear such a transparent attempt to overturn an election,” he said. “It is deeply undemocratic and at odds with the system of government that we have in the United States.”
Trump’s efforts do nothing more than sew discord and distrust and wreak havoc with the Republican Party and upset the peaceful transfer of power and the rule of law, he said.
“To trifle with those things is really courting deeper problems and courting disaster overall,” Karpowitz said. “It’s playing with fire.”
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, has been outspoken in his condemnation of efforts to overturn the election.
”The 2020 election is over,” said a statement Sunday from a bipartisan group of 10 senators, including Romney and fellow Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
The senators wrote that further attempts to cast doubt on the election are “contrary to the clearly expressed will of the American people and only serve to undermine Americans’ confidence in the already determined election results.”
The statement was issued before Trump’s phone call with Georgia officials was disclosed.
The president went after members of his party who are pushing back against his baseless claims of voter fraud Monday.
“The “Surrender Caucus” within the Republican Party will go down in infamy as weak and ineffective “guardians” of our Nation, who were willing to accept the certification of fraudulent presidential numbers!” he tweeted
The “Surrender Caucus” within the Republican Party will go down in infamy as weak and ineffective “guardians” of our Nation, who were willing to accept the certification of fraudulent presidential numbers!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2021
It appears that Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, a staunch Trump supporter, isn’t on board with efforts to challenge the election results.
The Washington Post reported Sunday that in a letter shared among colleagues, Lee wrote, “with respect to presidential elections, there is no authority for Congress to make value judgments in the abstract regarding any state’s election laws or the manner in which they have been implemented.”
The centrist United Utah Party launched a petition Monday calling on Lee to vote to certify Biden’s victory in the Electoral College.
“The people of Utah need to know that Sen. Lee will not join this anti-democratic movement but will instead uphold those democratic principles that have made our republic enduring and strong,” said Hillary Stirling, party chairwoman.
Contributing: Associated Press
from Deseret News https://ift.tt/3hF40Ua
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