The presidential election was on November 3; most news organizations announced Joe Biden and Kamala Harris a few days later as the winners; states certified their results by December 8; and the Electoral College met on December 14th. But there is still some electoral business to be done by January 20, when Biden and Harris will be inaugurated as the next president and vice president of the United States.
On January 6, Congress will meet in a joint sitting to formally count the votes cast by the states. The election votes are carried into the chamber in ornate boxes, members of Congress review it and then the sitting vice president, who acts as president of the Senate, declares the winners. In this case, it will be Vice President Mike Pence who will give his opponents the victory. It will be a difficult pill to swallow, but other vice presidents have done so in the past, including Richard Nixon in 1961 and Al Gore in 2001.
The states have already counted the votes of their constituents. Biden won by a total of 306 election votes, compared to President Trump’s 232 (270 votes from the Electoral College are required to win). Biden also won the popular vote with more than 7 million votes.
But since November 3, Trump has refused to concede defeat to Biden. The president continues to falsely claim that he really won the election, claiming widespread voter fraud. Trump’s most ardent supporters hold on to what is virtually a fantasy to overturn the outcome of the congressional election. The 1887 Election Act requires the Vice President to preside over the ratification of the votes of the Electoral College in a grand ceremonial capacity and to confirm the winner of the presidential election.
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and a group of Republicans in Arizona on Sunday filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court against Pence, arguing that the 1887 law is unconstitutional and that he should be legally authorized to vote on Trump. “Vice President Pence, in his capacity as President of the Senate and presiding officer of the Joint Session of Congress on 6 January 2021 under the Twelfth Amendment, shall be subject solely to the requirements of the Twelfth Amendment and shall exercise exclusive authority and exclusive discretion to determine which electoral votes to count for a given state, ”the lawsuit alleges.
Trump’s GOP allies could also take another path. If at least one member of the House and one senator object to the result, the objection is put to the vote after two hours of debate.
A Handful of Republicans in the House – Including Georgia Rep. Re-elected Jody Hice said she would object to the election results in Georgia, one of the states in which Trump claims the irregularity of voters.
On the Senate side, it is less certain. Incoming Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama proposed, but did not confirm, that he could object as well.
The attempt to give the election to Trump will have to succeed in both chambers with a majority. Even if the vote falls on party lines, it will be defeated by the Democratic majority in the House. Several Senate Republicans oppose it, including majority leader Mitch McConnell (who provoked Trump’s anger as a result). It is therefore difficult to imagine a situation in which an objection to the votes of a single state goes anywhere – let alone the multiple states needed to change the election results.
So hold on. Although our calendars may change on January 1, 2020 is only over before the Vice President has spoken it.
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