Nearly a dozen Republican senators and senators-elect are still trying to prevent President-elect Joe Biden from being certified as the election victor.
CNN reports that the lawmakers revealed Saturday that they oppose counting electoral votes next week when it’s anticipated that Congress will certify Biden’s win, even though there’s no valid proof of extensive voter fraud in the election.
The Republicans said they will dismiss the Electoral College votes from multiple states until an “emergency 10-day audit” of the election returns in the “disputed states” is done. The group includes Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Steve Daines of Montana, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, and Mike Braun of Indiana, and Sens.-elect Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
“A fair and credible audit—conducted expeditiously and completed well before Jan. 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 also said that Congress’ Jan. 6 vote is the “lone constitutional power remaining to consider and force resolution of the multiple allegations of serious voter fraud.”
However, none of the legislators who are protesting Biden’s win have balked at their own wins, which happened on the same day with the same ballots and using the same election systems. At least 140 House Republicans intend to vote against tallying the electoral votes in Congress, according to CNN.
On Wednesday, Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley said he will formally object to the Electoral College results since there are allegations that some states, like Pennsylvania, had “failed to follow their own state election laws.”
On Saturday night, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) slammed the GOP congressional members who expressed their intentions to reject the Electoral College results. He called it an "egregious ploy" that was seemingly motivated by political ambition rather than restoring trust in U.S. democracy. Romney pointed to the Trump administration's failed efforts to overturn the election results, and insisted it was dangerous for congressional members to "substitute their own partisan judgement for that of the courts."
"More Americans participated in this election than ever before, and they made their choice. President Trump’s lawyers made their case before scores of courts; in every instance, they failed," he wrote in a statement. "The Justice Department found no evidence of irregularity sufficient to overturn the election. The Presidential Voter Fraud Commission disbanded without finding such evidence."
Romney even mentioned Cruz directly by name. "My fellow Senator Ted Cruz and the co-signers of his statement argue that rejection of electors or an election audit directed by Congress would restore trust in the election. Nonsense," he added. "This argument ignores the widely perceived reality that Congress is an overwhelmingly partisan body; the American people wisely place greater trust in the federal courts where judges serve for life."
Read the rest of his scathing statement below.
