Nearly a dozen Republican senators announced on Saturday that they would support an objection to the Electoral College votes that declared President-elect Joe Biden the winner if a commission is not appointed to audit the results.
The group of lawmakers said in a statement that they were calling on Congress to create a “full investigatory and fact-finding authority, to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states” and threatened on Jan. 6 when both chambers meet “to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘lawfully certified’ (the statutory requisite), unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed.”
Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Steve Daines of Montana, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, and Mike Braun of Indiana signed on to the statement on Saturday, as well as Senators-elect Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
The senators stopped short in their statement of saying that they would bring forward a vote to object to the results.
An objection is not considered unless it is in writing and signed by both a member of the House and a member of the Senate. For the objection to be sustained, both chambers must vote for it by a simple majority. If the chambers do not both agree, then the original electoral votes are counted.
Given that Democrats control the House and many Republicans in both chambers have recognized President-elect Joe Biden as the legitimate winner, these procedural challenges are almost certain to stall.
And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Senate Republicans that a vote on objections would be “the most consequential vote” of his career, and he has been encouraging his republicans conference to not join these objections.
The announcement Saturday comes after Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., on Wednesday became the first senator to say he would object to the certification of some states’ Electoral College results, forcing other Republicans to vote on whether to reject President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of massive voter fraud in this year’s election or disenfranchise millions of voters.
Trump has lashed out at members of his party who have failed to back up his outlandish claims of fraud and has called for the resignation of local GOP officials who have refused to overturn their state’s results. The president has not yet commented on the latest development, but his campaign tweeted a message of thanks to the senators.
But McConnell told Senate Republicans that a vote on objections would be “the most consequential vote” of his career, and he has been encouraging his republicans conference to not join these objections.
Biden is set to be sworn in on Jan. 20 as the 46th president.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
