Reporter : Gu Fan / Editor : Li Jia / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2020/12/13/a103009141.html / Direct translation
On December 14, the electoral colleges of all states in the United States will vote for the president; on January 6, the U.S. Congress will count the electoral college votes. If both houses of the Senate and the House of Representatives raise objections to the election results, the two houses will discuss whether to approve the election results. At present, many members of the House of Representatives have expressed that they will challenge the results of the election, and two senators have expressed their openness to the results of the challenge.
Leading the congressional challenge is Rep. Mo Brooks, Republican of Alabama. Together with a group of allies in the House of Representatives, he is focusing on challenging the election results in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin. They pointed out that varying degrees of fraud or illegal voting occurred in these states.
"According to the Constitution, we have a higher role (in determining election results) than the Supreme Court, any federal court judge, and any state court judge." Brooks said in an interview with The New York Times, "What do we say, That's what. This is the final judgment."
According to the constitution and the rules of the Electoral Counting Act of 1887, their challenges must be submitted in written form and must be accompanied by the signature of at least one senator.
At present, two Republican senators have expressed their openness to the challenge. They are Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Once members of both houses of Congress raise objections, the senators and representatives will return to their respective chambers for a two-hour debate, and then vote on whether to cancel a state’s vote. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and the Republican-controlled Senate must both agree to cancel a state’s election results. But since the 19th century, nothing like this has happened.
Brooks is not the first MP to try to challenge the Electoral College. Democrats in the House of Representatives made such attempts in 2001, 2005 and even 2017, but that was basically a protest after their party's nominee had accepted the defeat.
The difference this time is that President Trump has never admitted defeat and quite a few lawmakers in the Republican Party did not recognize Biden's victory. Vice President Pence, as the Speaker of the Senate, will play an important role on January 6. He has the task of the Constitution, which is to open and count all the electoral college votes sent from all 50 states and announce the results of the election.
Pence said he supports Trump's challenge. Last Thursday, at a rally in Georgia, Pence said, "We will continue to fight until every legal vote is counted."
"I know that many people doubt this election. I know I am too." Pence said.
Brooks has been working hard to win more support. He met with six senators including Mike Lee of Utah last week, and met with members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
"My primary goal is to repair a seriously flawed American electoral system, it is too easy to allow voter fraud and election theft." Brooks said, "achieving this goal may bring additional benefits is that Trump will officially win the electors. I believe that if you only count the legitimate votes of eligible American citizens and exclude all illegal votes, he has actually won the Electoral College."
It's still unclear how broad an alliance Brooks can build. More than 60% of Republicans in the House of Representatives, including the two Republican leaders, have jointly signed a legal opinion in support of Texas's lawsuit requesting the Supreme Court to overturn the election results, but the lawsuit was unsuccessful.
Some Republicans, including Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, also said they can support the challenge.
"All eyes are on January 6." Gates said on Fox News after the Supreme Court dismissed the Texas lawsuit on Friday night. "In the process of certifying electors (voting), I guess there will be some debates and discussions in Congress, and we still think there is (fraud) evidence that needs to be considered."
Republican Senator Paul of Kentucky said he will "wait to see the results of all legal cases" before deciding what to do.
Senator Johnson plans to hold a hearing this week to "review irregularities in the 2020 election." Participants will include former independent lawyer Ken Starr, the favorite of conservatives, and at least two lawyers who support Trump's challenge. Johnson told reporters last week that whether he continues to challenge the election results on January 6 will "depend on the results of our investigation."
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