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WASHINGTON: A Republican senator said Wednesday he will oppose congressional certification next week of the results of the November 3 U.S. presidential election, a move that may slightly delay – but don’t derail – the final confirmation of the victory of Democrat Joe Biden.
Several Republican members of the House of Representatives have also said they plan to oppose the certification of the Electoral College vote on January 6, but Josh Hawley of Missouri was the first senator to publicly confirm it.
Vice President Mike Pence will lead the joint session of Congress that certifies the Electoral College results that determine the winner of the race for the White House.
Biden won 306 of the Electoral College votes representing the result of the popular vote in each of the US states, while incumbent Donald Trump won 232.
Certification of Electoral College results by Congress has historically been a formality, but Trump has refused to acknowledge his defeat and spent the past two months making allegations of voter fraud without presenting any credible evidence.
Dozens of lawsuits brought by the Trump campaign and its Republican allies alleging electoral irregularities have been dismissed by courts across the country.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has reportedly tried to dissuade other Republican senators from opposing the certification of the results, but Hawley said he plans to do so anyway and may be join other Republican senators.
At least one member of the House and one member of the Senate must file an objection to the certification to send it to the room for debate and vote.
However, a vote would be doomed to failure in the Democratic-controlled House and is also unlikely to pass in the Republican-majority Senate, where several Republican senators have already acknowledged Biden’s victory.
Electoral integrity
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House, said Wednesday that Hawley’s measure would come to nothing.
“I have no doubt that next Wednesday, within a week, Joe Biden will be confirmed by the acceptance of the Electoral College vote as the 46th president of the United States,” Pelosi said.
Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for Biden’s transition team who has been chosen to be the next White House press secretary, also said the move will not prevent Biden from taking office on January 20.
“Let me first say that the American people spoke out forcefully in this election and 81 million people have voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Psaki told reporters.
“Regardless of what is being done on January 6, President-elect Biden will be sworn in on the 20th,” he added.
Hawley said he opposed the certification due to concerns about “electoral integrity” and noted that Democrats had done so in the past.
“After the 2004 and 2016 elections, Democrats in Congress objected during the certification of electoral votes to raise concerns about the integrity of the elections,” he said in a statement. “And they had the right to do it.
“But now those of us concerned about the integrity of this election have the right to do the same,” Hawley said. “At a minimum, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and take steps to ensure the integrity of our elections.”
Trump has asked his supporters to converge on Washington on January 6 to pressure lawmakers not to certify Biden’s victory.
The rally could attract thousands of Trump supporters who believe his unsubstantiated claims that massive electoral fraud caused his defeat and prevented him from serving a second term.
