Congress Convenes to Count Electoral College, Objections Expected

As Congress convenes to fulfill its constitutional duty, a growing number of Republican lawmakers have announced they will contest the results of key states, arguing there was rampant voter fraud or state officials did not follow the law.

Congress is set to begin certification of the Electoral College results Wednesday afternoon, to which dozens of Republican lawmakers plan to object.

While the efforts to challenge particular states’ results will ultimately fail, Axios reports the effects could “shake many Americans’ confidence in their democracy” and “test the potential for future alliances” between President-elect Joe Biden and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
More than 100 Republicans in the House and a dozen Senators will be challenging the results of Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, possibly other states, despite leadership in both chambers urging their members not to raise objections.
According to Politico, President Trump has privately conceded that he lost but still does not believe it was a fair election, and his continued efforts are to “keep the attention on himself and give his supporters what they want.”
Objections to Electoral College certification have occurred in the past, including the 2000 and 2004 elections.
Trump supporters are in Washington to rally and protest the expected Electoral College loss, ass D.C. police and Black Lives Matter protestors clashed with them last night.

CNN’s analysis of today’s Electoral College fight as an “effort to subvert democracy” while Pence’s resistance to Trump’s entreaty that he use his authority to declare some states’ electors invalid has soured their relationship.
The New York Times’ columnist Thomas L. Friedman wrote the senators who are organizing the protest are “lapdogs” and those objecting should be labeled “coup plotter” and harassed.
The Washington Post frames their report on the certification as a battle between Trump and Pence.

While the Wall Street Journal’s reporting framed their story as a loyalty test among Republican lawmakers for Trump, the Editorial Board praised Vice President Pence for rejecting pleas from fellow Republicans.
Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher wrote for National Review that the Framers of the Constitution did not give Congress the power to overrule states retroactively while former U.S. Attorney and legal analyst Andrew McCarthy argues the job of Congress in the certification is to “witness, not judge” and that neither Pence nor Congress has the constitutional authority to object or overturn.
Fox News characterized the tension between Trump and Pence by emphasizing the President’s remarks on Twitter, namely that “this is a time for extreme courage”, urging Pence to “come through for us”.

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