Last Updated on December 3, 2020
Legislatures in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia have all called for inquiries into vote fraud and ballot tampering in contemplation of using a provision in the US Constitution to claw back their power to seat electors to the Electoral College. One US Representative plans to challenge the Electoral College vote – if the status quo stands – in Congress.
US Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), told reporters Wednesday that he will challenge the Electoral College vote on January 6, 2021, when Congress assembles to certify the election if, in fact, the vote count stands as is for Democrat presidential hopeful Joe Biden.
“In my judgment, if only lawful votes by eligible American citizens were cast, [President] Donald Trump won the Electoral College by a significant margin, and Congress’s certification should reflect that,” Brooks said.
“This election was stolen by the socialists engaging in extraordinary voter fraud and election theft measures,” he added.
Mo Brooks planning to challenge Electoral College votes, claims "Donald Trump won the Electoral College by a significant margin, and Congress’s certification should reflect that." https://t.co/pip9ceURTj pic.twitter.com/MzHWlbRwKh
— The Hill (@thehill) December 3, 2020
The Legislative Branch – the US House of Representatives and the US Senate – have the authority to challenge the legitimacy of the electors seated by the many states. In order to do so, however, at least one member from both chambers needs to contest the results “in order to force deliberation on the matter.”
The quest for Brooks at this point would be to find an ally in the Senate. Then he would have to face a Democrat controlled House in deliberations led by hyper-partisan House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
The Trump campaign, as well as several of the President’s allies, have launched legal battles in several of the battleground states he was leading in before vote counting was stopped on Election Night. Hundreds, if not thousands, of witnesses have sworn out affidavits that vote tampering took place in the hours vote tabulations were suspended and then into the days extended out from Election Day to facilitate the abundance of mail-in and absentee ballots cause by the questionable COVID pandemic.
But Brooks says, “A lot of time is being wasted in court.” He argues, “[T]he Supreme Court does not have the lawful authority to determine whether to accept or reject a state’s Electoral College submissions.”
“Under the United States Constitution and US law, that is the job and duty of elected officials,” Brooks said. “And so it’s the United States Congress that is the final judge and jury of whether to accept or reject Electoral College submissions by states, and to elect who the president and vice president of the United States might be.”
While Brooks may indeed find an ally in the US Senate, the chances of finding enough members of Congress confident enough to risk their political futures to do what is right by the American people are slim by all accounts.
