Electoral College objections to Congress: what you need to know

The House and Senate will meet at 1 p.m. on Wednesday for a joint session of Congress to certify the electoral victory of President-elect Joe Biden, and a group of GOP lawmakers intend to raise objections to the results.

The traditional tally of each state’s election results is the final step in selecting a US president. This is normally a lackluster procedure, but President Trump changed that by calling on his GOP allies in Congress to fight for him to the end.

Quite a few backed Trump, but other Republicans called the latest cry of resistance damaging to democracy and contrary to the U.S. Constitution.

“To challenge a state’s certification, given the specificity of the Constitution, would be a violation of my oath of office – it’s not something I’m prepared to do and it’s not something that Oklahomans would like me to do, ”said Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., Said in a statement Tuesday in announcing that he would accept Biden’s victory.

At the other end of the divided Republican Party are lawmakers responding to the frustrations of voters who continue to believe the election was stolen from Trump. More protests are planned in Washington, DC, and Trump is expected to address the crowd at 11 a.m.

Representatives Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Said at least 100 House Republicans support the objections. In the Senate, at least 13 Republicans have said they will oppose the results one way or another, with the senses. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., And Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in the lead.

LOEFFLER OPPOSES CERTIFICATION OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RESULTS

“I don’t know the outcome, but I think it’s worth the fight,” Greene told Fox News of the final effort to stop certification.

Greene hopes the objections will spark a debate in Congress over allegations of electoral fraud that the courts have yet to uphold. Greene spoke to Trump about election irregularities overseas Air Force One when she accompanied him to a rally in Georgia on Monday night.

“It is our duty to oppose ourselves,” Greene said. “… The American people at least deserve to start hearing the evidence of fraud.”

To prepare for the debate, GOP staff from the House Judiciary Committee prepared a 41-page memo outlining alleged electoral issues in six states, for example making mail ballots more readily available during the coronavirus pandemic. .

“The last-minute push for postal voting in many states, coupled with moves to erase long-standing guarantees for postal voting, has created the conditions for electoral administration errors or crimes. election-related, ”notes the rating obtained by Fox News States.

House Republicans are preparing to oppose electoral votes in at least six states won by Biden: Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Nevada. As of Tuesday afternoon, it was not clear how many states would receive the support of a senator, which is necessary for any debate to begin.

Cruz will oppose Arizona, with a focus on creating an Electoral College commission to audit the results and not necessarily to overturn the election results, according to a familiar source. Hawley narrowed down on Pennsylvania. And Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, who was set to lose her Georgia Senate seat to Democrat Raphael Warnock after Tuesday’s election, was to oppose certification in Georgia.

GOP SENATORS “STILL DISCUSS” WHAT STATES TO OPPOSE DURING JAN. 6 CERTIFICATION OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE

Biden won the Electoral College vote 306-232, but Trump refused to concede and instead repeated unproven allegations of widespread electoral fraud that were dismissed by the Supreme Court, its attorney general, state election officials and dozens of other courts.

Some Democrats have opposed election results in the past when GOP presidents have won, but they have spoken out strongly against this last-resort effort.

Representative Steny Hoyer, the House majority leader, said Trump’s persistent allegations of electoral fraud are “seditious” and lambasted Republican leaders who refused to acknowledge Biden won the election fair and square .

TRUMP PUT THE PRESSURE UNDER BEFORE PRESENTATION OF ELECTIONS AT CONGRESS

“They cavalierly supported by their silence or by their active participation in the president’s false claim – his seditious claim in many ways – that the vote was not fair,” Hoyer said Tuesday. “… It is a tragedy that they did.”

Here are some things to know before convening the joint session:

VP Mike Pence to play ceremonial role

When the House and Senate meet at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Vice President Mike Pence is expected to chair the joint session of Congress.

Trump pressured Pence to help him during this process, insisting that Pence has the power to oppose the ballots and telling a Georgian crowd on Monday that he hopes Pence “will come for us.”

But no matter how much the president turns up his vice president’s volume, White House officials tell Fox News that Pence “will follow the law” on Wednesday.

The electoral votes will be introduced into the chamber of the House in mahogany boxes.

Pence will begin counting the votes for each state in alphabetical order starting with Alabama and then Alaska.

The first expected objection is to come from Arizona, where Biden won.

Objections only work if they are supported by both a Senator and a Representative.

Under the Election Count Act, a House and Senate petitioner is required to challenge a state’s electoral vote list, and the objection must be in writing.

Cruz has indicated that he will join the House in opposing Arizona, according to a close source. Cruz has led a group of a dozen senators who say they would oppose certification of Electoral College results unless there is an emergency 10-day results audit by an electoral commission . Cruz is expected to raise the issue of the Electoral College commission – but not fully settle the election results.

The debate is scheduled for two hours with Democrats and Republicans taking turns.

Once there is a joint objection, the senators will return to their chambers, and the chamber will remain in its chamber to debate the merits of the voters of that state.

Members will have a five-minute speaking limit.

Democrats have former impeachment officials leading their debate.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on Rep. Adam Schiff, Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Chairman of the House Administration Committee, to lead a Democratic response. Both are former impeachment officials.

Others willing to lead the debate are Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Professor of Constitutional Law, and Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., Who sits on the Judiciary Committee.

Democrats who represent the contested state will also speak out to defend the validity of the election results.

A majority vote of the House and Senate is required to reject a state’s voters list.

After the debate, both the House and the Senate will vote on whether to accept voters from that state.

It’s a recorded vote that will document how each lawmaker stands in front of voters in each state.

It takes both the House and the Senate to reject a state’s electoral votes. If that happens, the voters list simply disappears. It would be as if Arizona had never voted.

It could take a long, long time.

After the votes on that particular state, the House and Senate resume together and begin the count for the rest of the states.

If there is another joint objection, the House and Senate split again for another two hours of debate and a vote on that contested state.

The time needed to separate, debate and vote on each state could be three to four hours.

The process repeats until all states are counted.

Votes are not on Trump’s side

Given that Democrats control the House and enough Republicans in both the House and Senate accept that Trump lost the election, these objections are a long-drawn-out effort.

At the end of the process, Biden and Kamala Harris are expected to be certified as the next President and Vice President of the United States.

Their inauguration would take place on January 20.

Fox News’s Chad Pergram, Jason Donner, and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.