Where do Centre County’s representatives in Washington stand on the Electoral College vote?
When Congress meets Wednesday to count each state’s electoral votes, Centre County’s two representatives in the U.S. House plan to oppose certification of Pennsylvania’s electors in an attempt to undo President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Over the last week, more than 100 House Republicans and nearly a dozen Republican senators have said they will object to the results of the November 2020 election, citing President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of widespread voter fraud and election misconduct.
Along with former Attorney General William Barr, state and local election officials have discredited fraud allegations. After the Trump campaign presented no credible evidence in court, nearly all legal challenges have been dismissed by judges, including the Supreme Court’s denial to hear two cases aimed at invalidating election results.
U.S. Rep. Fred Keller, R-Kreamer, and Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Howard, who were reelected in November, are among eight Pennsylvania representatives in Congress who said they would vote against certifying the electoral votes. In a statement issued last week, they said Gov. Tom Wolf, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar and the Supreme Court acted “rogue” and attempted to circumvent the democratic process.
“Pennsylvania’s governor, secretary of state and Supreme Court acted unlawfully to violate the state legislature’s clear, constitutional authority to set election procedure,” Keller tweeted Thursday. “Until these actions are addressed, I cannot support electors chosen based on an inaccurate vote count.”
On Sunday, a leaked telephone conversation with Trump revealed that the president pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to alter the state’s election results.
Keller and Thompson did not respond to a request for comment on the call or if their plans to vote against the electoral votes have changed. Neither have publicly questioned the results of their respective races.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said the decision of Republican lawmakers to oppose the electoral votes is an attempt to “undermine the will of the people.”
“Pennsylvania’s election was secure, legal and fair,” Shapiro tweeted last week. “Our electoral votes have been cast for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. I will continue fighting these attacks on voting rights until Jan. 20. Until then, the people should know that any senator making declarations about challenging Pennsylvania’s election result is performing political theater for Donald Trump, not following any facts or laws.”
In a letter last month to Congress, state lawmakers including House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff and Rep. Rich Irvin urged federal legislators to reject Pennsylvania’s electoral delegates.
Breaking away from some of his Republican colleagues, Sen. Pat Toomey said efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election undermine democracy.
“The senators justify their intent by observing that there have been many allegations of fraud. But allegations of fraud by a losing campaign cannot justify overturning an election,” Toomey said in a statement. “They fail to acknowledge that these allegations have been adjudicated in courtrooms across America and were found to be unsupported by evidence.”
Like every election, Toomey said, there were “irregularities,” but “overwhelming” evidence proves Biden won.
“His narrow victory in Pennsylvania is easily explained by the decline in suburban support for President Trump and the president’s slightly smaller victory margins in most rural counties,” Toomey wrote. “I voted for President Trump and endorsed him for re-election. But, on Wednesday, I intend to vigorously defend our form of government by opposing this effort to disenfranchise millions of voters in my state and others.”
Demoratic Sen. Bob Casey said the senators who plan to oppose the electoral results are “aligning themselves with one of the biggest lies in political history.”
“It’s bs,” he wrote on Twitter.
States have already counted their electoral votes, showing Biden winning with 306 to 232. Wednesday’s joint session is the final step in the electoral process before Biden is sworn in as president.
The Constitution requires Congress to meet and count electoral votes. If there is a tie, the House — where Democrats have the majority — decides the presidency, with each congressional delegation having one vote.
A teller reads the vote certification from each state, and any member can object, but the presiding officer will not hear the objection unless it is in writing and signed by both a House and Senate member. If there is a request, the session is suspended, and both chambers meet separately to consider it. In order for an objection to be sustained, both the Senate and House must agree to it by a majority vote. If they do not agree, the original electoral votes are counted.
