Updated Tuesday at 14:09 ET
As President Trump still falsely claims that he, and not Joe Biden, won the November 3 presidential election, Congress will meet Wednesday in a joint sitting to formally count the votes of the electoral college.
The states have already counted their own voters, and Biden won by 306 to 232 for Trump. Now it is up to Congress to vote the votes as submitted by the states.
Here’s a look at the process’s expectations:
1. Joint sitting chaired by the Vice-President
ByAt 1 p.m., lawmakers from the House and Senate will meet in the House of Representatives, with Vice President Pence as Senate President.
Two wooden cabinets with the certified results of the statements are brought into the room. Pence will open the sealed certificates and hand them over to counters appointed from the House and Senate members to read.
In a tweet Trump on Monday falsely claimed that Pence “has the power to reject the elected voters.”
The Vice President has the power to reject voters with fraudulent choices.
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 5 January 2021
The Constitution does not give the vice president any such power, period.
His role is more similar to a ceremonial host. What’s more, the voters are not fraudulent and were certified by officials in each state last month.
In some recent elections, it was all pro-forma, and the whole process was within less than half an hour. But if there are objections to any of the state certificates, it can take much longer.
2. What happens if there are objections, and will they be?
There seem to be objections from Republicans’ objections to the certificates of some states that Biden won, but where Trump and some of his supporters accuse the vote unfounded is’ knee-jerk ‘.
It is likely that dozens of Republics of the House will object to voters from different states, and it appears that at least a dozen senators will join them. This is the key, because at least one member of the House and one senator must file an objection.
Senate leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Reportedly urged Republicans not to object. Objection would put Republicans in the awkward position of supporting a challenge that is sure to fail, and voters may recall that their efforts to overthrow millions of legitimate ballots will commemorate the next election.
If a senator does present a challenge, the House and Senate will enter their own chambers, according to the Congressional Research Service, for a period of ‘no more than two hours’, and members will have up to five minutes to speak. in favor or against the objection.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, will chair the House debate and aides say the Democratic response will be led by California Representatives Adam Schiff and Zoe Lofgren, Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin and Colorado Representative Joe Neguse.
Then each chamber will vote, by the simple majority required to uphold the objection. Both chambers must agree to the objection to pass.
3. Has it been tried before?
Recently, in 2005, two Democrats – Representative Stephanie Tubbs and Senator Barbara Boxer – objected to voters in Ohio, believing there were irregularities in the state’s presidential election. The House and Senate each rejected the objection, resuming the joint session with the Ohio election.
In 2017, when Biden, then vice president, was chairman, several Democrats stood up to object to Trump’s election. However, no one submitted their objections in writing, and Biden gave it and later said, ‘It’s over’.
4. Will it work this time?
It would appear that all attempts at challenges for any of the voters of the states will fail simply because Democrats own the House majority and will not vote to overthrow any of the Democrats Biden elections.
And it is uncertain how many Republicans in the Senate will go along with the doomed effort.
Senate control currently hangs in Georgia’s two special elections Tuesday, but even if the Democrats win the races, the Senate will be 50-50 and Pence will cast the tie-breaking vote (until Kamala Harris takes over as vice president on January 20).
Either way, it remains unclear how many Republicans of the Senate will vote to uphold a challenge. Sen. John Thune, RS.D., gave his probability colorfully, if a little disturbingly.
“It’s not going anywhere,” he told reporters last month. “It goes down like a shot dog.”
Thune’s remarks apparently caught Trump’s attention. The president fired the senator Twitter On December 22, I write: “South Dakota does not like weakness. He will be a beginner in 2022, past political career !!!”
Republicans in the Senate forget so quickly. At the moment they would be down by 8 seats without me supporting them in the last election. RINO John Thune, ‘Mitch’s boy’, just has to make it play. South Dakota does not like weakness. He will be buried in 2022, political career over !!!
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 23 December 2020
For some Republicans, the spectacle and evidence of unwavering support for Trump and the GOP base could be just as important as the end result.
And if they file objections, the proceedings may take some time – even if the outcome is predetermined.
This story was originally published on December 22, 2020.
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