Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is leading a group of nearly a dozen senators who say they will be joining Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) in objecting to the electoral count on Jan. 6.
While Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had previously indicated he wasn’t in support of the idea, he may have a mutiny on his hand that he has to acknowledge. Hawley may have started a flood.
Cruz and the others said they intend to vote against the count unless there is an agreement to an “emergency 10-day audit” on the results in the contested states. Joining Cruz are Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI), James Lankford (R-OK), Steve Daines (R-MT), John Kennedy (R-LA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Mike Braun (R-IN), as well as Sens.-elect Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Bill Hagerty, R-TN) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).
🚨 OKLAHOMA SENATOR TO OBJECT TO ELECTORAL CERTIFICATION@SenatorLankford will join 10 other Senators in objecting to certification of electoral results on Jan. 6, according to release from Sen. Ted Cruz’s office.
Statement ⬇️⬇️ @OKCFOX pic.twitter.com/BmdL1j1gqt
— Dan Snyder (@DanSnyderFOX25) January 2, 2021
“Congress should immediately appoint an Electoral Commission, with full investigatory and fact-finding authority, to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states,” they said. “Once completed, individual states would evaluate the Commission’s findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if needed.
“Accordingly, we intend to vote on Jan. 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘lawfully certified’ (the statutory requisite), unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed,” they added.
They observed that “by any measure, the allegations of fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election exceed any in our lifetimes.” They also argued there had been prior precedent where there were objections from Democrats as well as a commission appointed for claims of fraud in 1877. Democrats also objected to the count for the last three Republican presidents including President Donald Trump although they didn’t have Senators joining in except in 2005.
“A fair and credible audit—conducted expeditiously and completed well before January 20—would dramatically improve Americans’ faith in our electoral process and would significantly enhance the legitimacy of whoever becomes our next President. We owe that to the People,” they said in a statement.
They made it very clear they were the ones protecting the Constitutional process.
“These are matters worthy of the Congress, and entrusted to us to defend. We do not take this action lightly. We are acting not to thwart the democratic process, but rather to protect it,” they said. “And every one of us should act together to ensure that the election was lawfully conducted under the Constitution and to do everything we can to restore faith in our Democracy.”
They join reportedly 140 members of the House who will also be objecting, as well as Hawley.
The slates of electors in the contested states will only be tossed if both the House and Senate vote to not accept them. But the effort is now going to require more attention to be focused on the allegations and they’re not going to be able to just dismiss it without comment.
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