What Happens Wednesday - The Elector Challenge Process

The next two days will be interesting and important in the world of politics. Tomorrow 1/5/21 the people of Georgia will elect two U.S. Senators, both locked up in runoff elections. In one race 70 year old incumbent Republican Senator David Perdue is running against 33 year old Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff. In the other race 50 year old Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler faces 51 year old Democrat Reverend Raphael Warnock.

The control of the U.S. Senate hangs in the balance of that election. It's a big deal with significant implications for the nation over the next couple of years. That's tomorrow.

On Wednesday 1/6/21 a joint session of Congress convenes to open and read the electoral votes of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. That's a normal procedure but what makes this year's count unusual is the number of Senators and Representatives who are already on record as planning to challenge a number of the electoral results.

It's happened before but you have to go back 143 years to find anything of this complexity. Here's A quick review of the outcome of the race between "Democrat Samuel Tilden who had emerged from the close election leading Republican Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, just one vote shy of the 185 needed to win. However, returns from Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina, and Oregon remained in dispute."

In that contest a commission was formed by Senators, Representatives and even the Supreme Court, who reviewed the disputed information and ultimately gave the victory to Hayes.

Supporters of President Trump believe that voting irregularities in several states including Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin deserve greater scrutiny and a 10-day delay and the formation of a panel similar to the one from 1877 should be allowed.

To push for that, at least a dozen Senators and scores of Representatives are prepared to challenge the electoral count.

The Congressional Research Service has released a report called Counting Electoral Votes: An Overview of Procedures at the Joint Session, Including Objections by Members of Congress--Updated December 8, 2020 which describes how the process works.

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32717.pdf

Categories: National News, Politics

What Happens Wednesday – The Elector Challenge Process