Pence "welcomes" Senators and House of Representatives to challenge electoral votes on January 6

Reporter : Gu Fan / Editor : Zhu Xinrui / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2021/01/03/a103023587.html / Direct translation

On Saturday (January 2), US Vice President Pence’s chief of staff said in a statement that the vice president "welcomes" members of the Senate and House of Representatives on January 6 when the Congress meet to certify the efforts of the Electoral College to "vote opposition".

"Vice President Pence, like millions of Americans, is concerned about voter fraud and irregularities in the last election," Pence's chief of staff Marc Short said in a statement to the Capitol. 

"The vice president welcomes the efforts of members of the Senate and House of Representatives to use the powers granted by law to raise objections and provide evidence to Congress and the American people on January 6," the statement continued.

This comment is the clearest comment made by Pence's office on the January 6 Congress certified electoral vote.

Pence will preside over the meeting on January 6, but his role is mainly ceremonial. According to the 100-year-old Electoral Counting Act, on the day Congress authenticates the electoral votes, the vice president has the responsibility to open the envelope, count the electoral votes in each state, and announce the result of the electoral votes.

A few days ago, Congressman Louie Gohmert sued Pence in federal court, demanding that the powers of the vice president be expanded so that he has the power to decide whether to certify the votes of a certain electoral college but the judge dismissed the case because the prosecution should not be Pence, but Congress.

According to the law, to overturn a state’s electoral votes, at least one congressman and one senator must object.

In the House of Representatives, on January 2, dozens of current and newly appointed Republican congressmen stated that they would challenge the electoral college vote at the joint meeting of Congress on January 6, including Congressman Andy Biggs, Matt Gaetz, Louie Gohmert, Paul Gosar and Jody Hice.

In the Senate, Josh Hawley was the first Republican senator to say that he would join the effort last week. The opposition of him and a member of the House of Representatives is sufficient to ensure that the Senate and House of Representatives must debate and vote on this issue.

On January 2, 11 more Republican senators joined the challenge. Including 7 senators and 4 newly-elected senators called for a 10-day audit of the election results of the "controversial states" and stated that they would refuse to authenticate the electoral votes of these states until the audit is completed.

The group is led by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and includes Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma, and Senator of Montana. Senator Steve Daines, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy, Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, Indiana Senator Mike Braun, and Wyoming Senator elected Cynthia Lummis, Kansas Senator Roger Marshall, Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty and Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville.

The 12 senators who participated in the challenge reached a quarter of the number of senators. It is expected that more people will support efforts to challenge the election results in Congress next week.