Utah Senator Mitt Romney is vehemently opposed to a plan that other Republican lawmakers are supporting to reject certification of presidential election results, trying to further delay President Joe Biden’s official victory.
Romney said that such Congressional power is reserved for “the most extreme and unusual circumstances” and, “these are far from that.”
On Saturday, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz issued a statement saying that he and at least 11 other current and future Republican senators will reject the official voter certification expected on Wednesday, “unless and until an emergency audit of 10 days “of the election results can be held. The statement points to the outcome of the elections in 1876, when an Electoral Commission was appointed to resolve the dispute.
In his statement released on Saturday afternoon, Romney said: “The blatant ploy to reject voters may increase the political ambition of some, but it dangerously threatens our Democratic Republic. More Americans participated in this election than ever, and they made their choice. ”
Romney went on to say that, in addition to the voice of the American people, President Donald Trump’s lawyers have failed to bring his case to court.
To date, no evidence of wrongdoing or evidence of fraud has been found substantial enough to overturn the results in any of the battlefield states.
Trump has not yet conceded the race, the results of which have put Biden markedly ahead. Biden won more than 7 million votes more than Trump nationally and won the Electoral College by 306 to 232.
While the move is unlikely to change the outcome of the controversial 2020 election, it has the potential to lengthen an already lengthy process that has led many to question the country’s state of democracy.
“If Congress really rejected state voters, supporters would inevitably demand the same whenever their candidate lost. Congress, not voters in their respective states, would choose our presidents, ”said Romney, arguing against Cruz’s plan.
He also said that the president’s request for his supporters to speak on the country’s Capitol when certification is being decided has “the potential to lead to disruptions and worse.”
“I could never imagine seeing these things in the greatest democracy in the world,” said Romney. “Did ambition eclipse the principle so much?”