WASHINGTON, DC (WBAY) – Several US Republican representatives released a statement on Sunday about certifying the votes of the Electoral College for the US president, including Mike Gallagher (R-WI).
Gallagher’s office released the statement Sunday afternoon, the day after several U.S. senators, including Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, said they are joining President Donald Trump’s effort to annul the election.
RELATED: More Republican Party lawmakers enlist in Trump’s effort to undo Biden’s victory
President Trump is the first president to lose a candidacy for re-election in nearly 30 years and attributed his defeat to widespread voter fraud, despite several nonpartisan election officials and the U.S. Attorney General claiming there was no fraud.
The group, led by US Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), plans to reject the results. The group consists of 11 senators and elected senators.
The statement sent by Gallagher’s office says in part that “only states have the authority to nominate voters, according to state law. Congress has only a narrow role in the presidential election process. Its function is to count the voters presented by the states, not to determine which voters the states should have sent. “
In addition, the statement says that five of the six states in question in relation to electoral votes have Republican legislatures and all have the power to send a new list of electoral votes to Congress if they deem this action appropriate under their respective state laws.
Gallagher’s statement says that unless electoral votes are changed before January 6, 2021, Congress will have no authority to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
The statement also goes on to say that “There is one and only one way for President Trump to win on January 6, 2021, and that depends on state legislatures that certify Trump voters in the states in question, according to state law and the U.S. constitution, and based on the discovery that the votes legally cast in November were sufficient to produce a Trump victory. If they believe that there was fraud – and if they believe that fraud affected the election result – they should, as a body, meet immediately and send us that information, along with certified electoral votes cast by a list of Trump voters. In the absence of such action, there is no constitutional role for Congress to change the outcome of any state’s vote. ”
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell urged his party not to try to overthrow what nonpartisan election officials concluded was a free and fair vote.
They promised to vote against certain state voters on Wednesday, unless Congress designates an electoral commission to immediately conduct an audit of election results. They are focusing on the states where Trump has made unfounded allegations of electoral fraud. Congress is unlikely to agree with your demand.
Electoral voting certification is scheduled to be voted on by Congress on Wednesday, January 6.
You can read the full statement below, which was also issued by the following US representatives:
- Kelly Armstrong – (R-ND)
- Ken Buck – (R-CO)
- Thomas Massie – (R-KY)
- Tom McClintock – (R-CA)
- Chip Roy – (R-TX)
- Nancy Mace – (R-SC)
“We, like most Americans, are outraged at the significant abuses in our electoral system resulting from the reckless adoption of ballots in the mail and the lack of safeguards maintained to ensure that only legitimate votes are cast and counted. It is shameful that, between the two chambers of the US Congress, we have held precisely a hearing on electoral integrity since election day.
The people cannot trust a system that refuses to guarantee that only legal votes are cast to select its leaders. Elections held in at least six battlefield states raise profound questions and it is a legal, constitutional and moral imperative that they be answered.
But only states have the authority to nominate voters, according to state law. Congress has only a narrow role in the presidential election process. Its function is to count the voters presented by the states, not to determine which voters the states should have sent.
The text of the United States Constitution, and the Twelfth Amendment in particular, is clear. Regarding the presidential elections, there is no authority for Congress to make value judgments in an abstract manner in relation to the electoral laws of any state or the way in which they were implemented. Congress is also not at liberty to disqualify voters based on its own conclusion that there was fraud in that state’s election. Congress has a function here: counting the electoral votes that were actually cast by any state, as designated by those authorized to do so under state law.
To date, no state has submitted several conflicting plates of electoral votes. In other words, each state sent (a) Biden voters or (b) Trump voters. Of the six states on which issues were raised, five have Republican-controlled legislatures and all have the power to send a new list of electoral votes to Congress if they deem such action appropriate under state law. Unless this happens between now and January 6, 2021, Congress will have no authority to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
To take measures in another way – that is, to place Congress unconstitutionally at the center of the presidential election process – would be tantamount to stealing the power of the people and the states. In effect, it would replace the electoral college with Congress and, in doing so, would strengthen the efforts of those on the left who are determined to eliminate it or make it irrelevant.
From a purely partisan perspective, Republican presidential candidates have won the national popular vote only once in the past 32 years. Therefore, they depended on the electoral college for almost all presidential victories in the last generation. If we perpetuate the notion that Congress can disregard certified electoral votes – based only on its own assessment that one or more states mismanaged the presidential election – we will be delegitimizing the very system that led Donald Trump to victory in 2016, and that could provide the only path to victory in 2024.
There is one and only one way for President Trump to win on January 6, 2021, and that depends on state legislatures that certify Trump voters in the states in question, according to state law and the United States Constitution, and based on a decision that votes legally launched in November were sufficient to produce a victory for Trump. If they believe that there was fraud – and if they believe that fraud affected the election result – they should, as a body, meet immediately and send us that information, along with certified electoral votes cast by a list of Trump voters. In the absence of such action, there is no constitutional role for Congress to change the outcome of any state’s vote.
The text of the Constitution is clear. States select voters. Congress does not. Consequently, our path to follow is also clear. We must respect the authority of the states here. While this may frustrate our immediate political goals, we vow to promote the Constitution above our political goals. We must count the electoral votes presented by the states ”.
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