Charlotte — There’s a story that has been circulating on social media that Vice President Mike Pence could potentially play a key role in President Trump’s fight against the 2020 election results. The story was sharing how the Electoral College worked and how Pence presides over the reading of the Electoral College votes and acceptance of them. It was suggested that Pence could preside over the rejection of the results, swinging the election to President Trump.
The Electoral College met on Monday to cast their votes for the declared winner of their state. In all, Joe Biden won in the committed Electoral College votes. Republicans also made headlines as they had alternate slates of electors to cast their votes for President Trump.
The next step in the process is that the votes are sealed and will be opened on January 6 at a joint session of Congress that Vice President Mike Pence presides over. That is where the story is focusing, and some mainstream media outlets are reporting a final challenge may occur.
The New York Times has a story that says Congressional Republicans will almost certainly fail in the attempt to overturn the election at this ceremonial event. While the left will continue to sew disinformation over the event, I think it’s important to look at the past and understand what might happen. After all, Democrats are the ones that have shown us how this works in the past.
Congress has the ability to challenge Electoral College results if a Representative and Senator sign onto the challenge together. The last two times a challenge to Electoral College votes was received was in 2017 and 2005, both times when Democrats challenged results. In 2017, they challenged President Trump’s votes, but the measures failed to receive support from a Senator.
In 2005, Democrats claimed election irregularities, similar to events this year, and challenged results from Ohio. They did have a Senator and Representative sign on to that challenge, and the houses were adjourned to debate. After much debate, the House and Senate rejected the challenge, and the votes were certified as reported.
When the event occurs on January 6th, the new 117th Congress will have already been sworn in. This new Congress finds Democrats with only an 11 member advantage over Republicans in the House, as it currently stands. Republicans find themselves with a 2 vote majority in the Senate, as the Senators in Georgia will not have been decided in their runoff election as of yet.
In other words, Republicans, if they stick together, could easily win any disputes in the Senate. Even if two members of the Senate abandon the party, VP Pence would cast the deciding vote. The real question comes down to the House of Representatives.
This is where things in the story circulating on social media become a little tricky. The story claims that each state gets a vote in regards to the acceptance or rejection of the votes, but that is not true. Each member of Congress gets a vote, which creates a problem for Republicans. In each state they may want to contest, they would need to convince 6 Democrats to abandon their party and vote to support the election fraud accusation.
That requirement could grow smaller as there are two seats still up for grabs in the House, with election races yet to be called. The NY 22 race is not expected to be called until Christmas week, where Republican Claudia Tenney leads by less than 500 votes. The other seat that could be vacant is Iowa’s District 2 seat, where Mariannette Miller-Meeks has been certified the winner by just 6 votes. Her challenger has appealed in a process that could take months.
In the worst-case scenario, Republicans would need 6 Democrats to vote with them. The best-case scenario would be that they need 5 if both of these Republicans are seated. Is that even possible?
While there are still many court cases that are left to play out and evidence of vote altering and tampering in Michigan, the joint session of Congress could be interesting.
JD Washington is the Editor-in-Chief at The Liberty Loft and host of The JD Washington Show. Be sure to subscribe to The Liberty Loft’s daily newsletter. If you enjoy our content, please consider donating to support The Liberty Loft so we can continue to deliver great content.
