Multiple senators oppose certifying election results

Outstanding! Some of these people finally remembered they had some balls/ovaries.

Fox News can go kiss my ass. Don't want to hear shit about "attacking American democracy." Dems did this in 2016, from the very moment Trump was elected, and kept up their attacks on democracy up to and including this election. Dems are scared their actions are going to be uncovered.

About time. Swing for the fences, I say. Nothing to lose.

Multiple senators oppose certifying election results​

Alayna Treene, author of Sneak Peek

Sen. Ted Cruz. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
A growing number of Republican senators — led by Ted Cruz — announced today they also will object to certifying state Electoral College votes on Wednesday and called for resurrecting an Electoral Commission to conduct an emergency audit of the results.
Why it matters: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had hoped to avoid the spectacle of his party leading a last-ditch effort to prevent Joe Biden from being declared the 2020 election winner, but Josh Hawley of Missouri said he would raise a general objection and now other Republican senators plan to air more specific grievances.
Driving the news: Cruz, who, like Hawley, is thought to be considering a 2024 presidential bid, released a statement this afternoon announcing his plans, shortly after Axios first reported about them. Several other GOP senators are now expected to follow in a coordinated effort they consider distinct from Hawley's.

• Republicans involved include Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.), as well as Sens.-elect Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.).

What they're saying: "Congress should immediately appoint an Electoral Commission, with full investigatory and fact-finding authority, to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states. Once completed, individual states would evaluate the Commission’s findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if needed," the senators said in a joint statement.

• The group noted a similar commission - made of five representatives, five senators and five Supreme Court justices - reviewed allegations of fraud in the 1876 election.
• “Accordingly, we intend to vote on Jan. 6 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."

The backstory: Some Democrats have occasionally raised individual objections to certifying the Electoral College results, but a large-scale, partisan objection would turn a usually procedural action into a challenge of a bedrock of American democracy: the peaceful transfer of power.

• The House and Senate are set to meet Wednesday for a Joint Session in which the individual Electoral College counts from each state are announced.
• Any member can raise an objection. If both a representative and a senator object to an individual state's result, members of the House and Senate head to their separate chambers to debate and vote on whether to uphold the challenge. Each vote could take up to two hours.
• McConnell has described any vote Wednesday as the "most consequential" of his political career, and other Republican senators are anxious about having to publicly choose between upholding the results and bolstering President Trump's claims of election fraud.
• While numerous courts up to the Supreme Court have thrown out election challenges made by the Trump campaign and other supporters, these senators are concerned that voting against the president's wishes will prompt him to support an opponent against them in 2022 and beyond.

Timing: The Senate certification vote will come just a day after two runoff elections in Georgia. If Democrats were to win both races, it would result in a 50-50 split chamber with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris wielding tie-breaking power on behalf of the Democrats.

• Regardless of the results, though, Sen. David Perdue's term will officially expire at the end of the current Congress, which occurs Sunday.
• The Georgia Republican's seat will remain temporarily vacant until the results are certified, leaving just 99 senators. The certification could take up to two weeks.

https://www.axios.com/multiple-senators-oppose-certify-election-results-c5f0610c-91e0-4431-abbe-91b4d860dfd4.html

https://archive.vn/YsbIV

 

[Marissa Moira]

The Virgin Lawful Evil vs The Chad Chaotic Good.

 

[Aidan]

This is interesting and I'm curious what the naysayers will say. I hope it's everything the Republicans said about the Russia stuff being a waste of time.

 

[MarvinTheParanoidAndroid]

This is interesting and I'm curious what the naysayers will say.

"Go ahead, have your two hour debate, it won't change anything!"

Speaking of which, are there any house representatives talking about objecting? There needs to be at least one from both branches before the objection can proceed.

 

[Alba gu brath]

Jesus, the fact that Georgia is still playing the run off in senate seats is mind boggling. Who exactly is managing these things, a dying donkey?

 

[ColtWalker1847]

"Congress should immediately appoint an Electoral Commission, with full investigatory and fact-finding authority, to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states. Once completed, individual states would evaluate the Commission’s findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if needed," the senators said in a joint statement.

If they were serious that should have been done months ago. Not at the 11th hour.

This is just grandstanding.

 

[AnotherPleb]

If they were serious that should have been done months ago. Not at the 11th hour.

This is just grandstanding.

Some of them have to be seen standing up for Trump to try and keep Trump's base for 2022, but that's all it is.

 

[Harvey Danger]

If they were serious that should have been done months ago. Not at the 11th hour.

This is just grandstanding.

There is no logistical way that you could do a 10 day audit of a single state's votes, much less multiple states.

The problem is that states like PA intentionally mixed in the suspect ballots with the real ones. The remedy for this is not "form a commission to add yet another rubber stamp to these tainted results". The remedy is "recognize the tainted total and throw out the electors by force".

Here's everything you need to know about the futility of the plan, in 3 words:

Once completed, individual states would evaluate the Commission’s findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if needed.

The states that obstinately refused to enforce their own election laws onto their own bureaucrats, are not going to suddenly switch course just because a GOP-triggered commission told them to think twice. They're going to reject any such recommendation without reading it. And they're going to get praise from the media for "standing strong against GOP conspiracy theories".

 

[ColtWalker1847]

The remedy is "recognize the tainted total and throw out the electors by force".

And replace them with what? How is that decided? Rock Paper Scissors?

That's why all this shit is so futile. The remedy should have been challenging this the better part of a year ago when they changed the election rules well before ballots were cast, primaries at the latest. Making this about some crap that can't be deciphered because it could theoretically resolve in their favor through some magical process that doesn't exist at the last minute is just grievance-mongering and deflecting blame.

They fucked up but they don't want to accept responsibility.

 

[Just Here for A and H]

This is interesting and I'm curious what the naysayers will say. I hope it's everything the Republicans said about the Russia stuff being a waste of time.

Twitter's been seething about 'muh sedition' for several days about this. Surprised it only broke in media today.

As for my opinion? Gif related.

 

[MarvinTheParanoidAndroid]

Twitter's been seething about 'muh sedition' for several days about this. Surprised it only broke in media today.

As for my opinion? Gif related.

View attachment 1824794

I wouldn't be too excited about it, they're clearly just doing it for show and even if they do object they'll probably just twiddle their thumbs in silence until the allotted debate time is over. The GOP are cucks, and a ten day audit of all the votes in the disputed states is fucking impossible.

 

[Harvey Danger]

And replace them with what? How is that decided? Rock Paper Scissors?

You could just nullify the votes without replacement. If that seems too harsh, the Constitution provides for the state legislature picking the electors.

That's why all this shit is so futile. The remedy should have been challenging this the better part of a year ago when they changed the election rules well before ballots were cast, primaries at the latest.

To be fair, a year ago nobody knew the states were going to just throw out their own safeguards because of "muh Covid". Before Election Day, nobody could have known that the states in question would just refuse to enforce their own laws. (Except in PA, who was disregarding multiple SCOTUS orders in the weeks leading up to Election Day.)

There were safeguards in place to protect the process, but they were selectively non-enforced.

And some states did challenge these things years ago. Florida had contentious races in 2018 that was nearly stolen by Democrats in the southern strongholds. The governor kicked out certain corrupt election officials, and 2020 ran completely smoothly. On the other hand, Georgia had similar problems in 2018, but the governor failed to fix the system. That let his losing opponent, Stacy Abrams, corrupt the vote either further, causing the problems we saw in Atlanta and the Senate races this time around.

 

[ColtWalker1847]

You could just nullify the votes without replacement. If that seems too harsh, the Constitution provides for the state legislature picking the electors.

The PA legislature is (D) majority. That's why they certified the electors. We are just circling back to the beginning here.

If you wanted to make a case about voting it needed to be done ages ago. The time to throw a fit was before the election, not after. Like purging voter rolls. Making certain election "irregularities" are felonies for those responsible. Make hard rules on chain-of-custody. That kind of thing.

But they constructed this all so poorly, and agreed to it, then are pretending it was all the other guy's fault. It's passing the buck. Elections aren't one of those gentleman's agreement kind of deals... unless your side benefits from them too and you look the other way just as often as they do.

It's a case of mid-term bullshit they pretend they don't see that protects incumbents biting the party in the ass in the presidential election, if anything.

 

[Harvey Danger]

The PA legislature is (D) majority. That's why they certified the electors.

That's not actually true. Both the PA House and Senate are majority (R). Visual from wiki:



You're right that Trump's legal strategy started way too late. He thought all he had to do was win the election, not prove he won it. He ran his campaign on the cheap and didn't have the lawyer brigades in place.

But the Republican Party as a whole was positioned to fight certification, at multiple levels, and force through some harsh remedies for the law-breaking that occurred. They didn't fight.

You could see that in PA for days after the election, when Philadelphia ballot counters threw out Republican observers but let Democrats stay. Some PA Republican with standing should have stormed that damn building with state troopers in tow, seized the ballot boxes, and forced a proper count and court challenge. Instead they posted whiny videos to social media, and held "rallies" outside, waving signs demanding a fair election while the fraud continued along.

Trump was too dumb to prepare for the obvious fraud storm. He fought too late and in the wrong way, because he was unprepared. The Republican Party was unevenly prepared; they should have been fighting for electoral reform like FL and TX pulled off. But on the whole, they were too weak to fight at all when it would have mattered.

 

[ColtWalker1847]

You're right that Trump's legal strategy started way too late. He thought all he had to do was win the election, not prove he won it. He ran his campaign on the cheap and didn't have the lawyer brigades in place.

But the Republican Party as a whole was positioned to fight certification, at multiple levels, and force through some harsh remedies for the law-breaking that occurred. They didn't fight.

That doesn't dissuade from my point that this is all a bunch of grandstanding CYA bullshit. It actually strengthens it.

They certified the electors. They let the election rules slide. They failed on all sorts of levels. Now they purport to want a do-over on very tenuous legal grounds in a face-saving move. I ain't buying it.

 

[Fek]

If they were serious that should have been done months ago. Not at the 11th hour.

This is just grandstanding.

Yeah, I think you're right.

While I have little doubt that a handful of these Senators are actually genuinely against certification, it's really easy to stand up and grandstand against something when you know it probably won't actually happen. You can look good to your (generally low information idiot) voter base while never actually having to put your ass on the line for anything. It's a publicity stunt with little personal risk involved.

It's not that I'd prefer they sit back and do nothing, of course, but this entire farce of a presidential election has showcased govt corruption as far too widespread. I don't trust hardly any of these Senators to be in it for the sake of the integrity of our nation.

 

[ColtWalker1847]

Yeah, I think you're right.

While I have little doubt that a handful of these Senators are actually genuinely against certification, it's really easy to stand up and grandstand against something when you know it probably won't actually happen. You can look good to your (generally low information idiot) voter base while never actually having to put your ass on the line for anything. It's a publicity stunt with little personal risk involved.

It's not that I'd prefer they sit back and do nothing, of course, but this entire farce of a presidential election has showcased govt corruption as far too widespread. I don't trust hardly any of these Senators to be in it for the sake of the integrity of our nation.

Politicians are crafty. They play the long game and only do things in their self-interest.

Why go all out and risk anything for something that probably won't go their way when they can just make a show about it, get the asspats, and risk nothing. It's not some great big corrupt scheme, it is them making a political calculation that risking their careers over an election that isn't theirs ain't worth it. Especially if state Republicans getting outmaneuvered on the covid changes is the root of the issue. Makes them look bad if you shine too bright of a light on it.

I know a lot of you guys have been huffing the copium so your version of reality isn't super rational but if you take the position that the provable evidence isn't in Trump's favor and it's a forlorn hope it all makes perfect sense.

 

[Cedric_Eff]

That's not actually true. Both the PA House and Senate are majority (R). Visual from wiki:

View attachment 1824958

You're right that Trump's legal strategy started way too late. He thought all he had to do was win the election, not prove he won it. He ran his campaign on the cheap and didn't have the lawyer brigades in place.

But the Republican Party as a whole was positioned to fight certification, at multiple levels, and force through some harsh remedies for the law-breaking that occurred. They didn't fight.

You could see that in PA for days after the election, when Philadelphia ballot counters threw out Republican observers but let Democrats stay. Some PA Republican with standing should have stormed that damn building with state troopers in tow, seized the ballot boxes, and forced a proper count and court challenge. Instead they posted whiny videos to social media, and held "rallies" outside, waving signs demanding a fair election while the fraud continued along.

Trump was too dumb to prepare for the obvious fraud storm. He fought too late and in the wrong way, because he was unprepared. The Republican Party was unevenly prepared; they should have been fighting for electoral reform like FL and TX pulled off. But on the whole, they were too weak to fight at all when it would have mattered.

Trump legit thought the Q and Parler people were going to take him to victory. But sadly, they were too stupid to vote.

 

[Unpaid Emotional Labourer]

If they were serious that should have been done months ago. Not at the 11th hour.

This is just grandstanding.

Yeah, this is nothing. Whatever. It’s too late to matter, not that it would’ve mattered anyway, which is why they waited so long. They’re just trying to generate future campaign material.

 

[Fanatical Pragmatist]

"Look, we tried our best though!" - GOP, 2022/2024