WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., joined 10 other senators in a vow to object to the Electoral College vote this week unless a commission is formed to audit election results from several disputed states.
Members of Congress are expected to formally certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election on Wednesday.
Braun joined Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Ron Johnson, R-Wis., James Lankford, R-Okla., Steve Daines, R-Mont., John Kennedy, R-La., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Senators-elect Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., in calling for a commission to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in multiple states, and for those states to convene special legislative sessions to certify their vote in a manner consistent with the findings of the commission’s audit.
“America is a republic whose leaders are chosen in democratic elections,” the senators said in a joint statement. “Those elections, in turn, must comply with the Constitution and with federal and state law.
“The election of 2020, like the election of 2016, was hard fought and, in many swing states, narrowly decided. The 2020 election, however, featured unprecedented allegations of voter fraud, violations and lax enforcement of election law, and other voting irregularities.”
Given that Democrats control the House of Representatives, and several other Republican senators – including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell – have acknowledged Biden’s win, the move has virtually no chance of affecting the outcome of the vote. But with at least 140 GOP members of the House reportedly planning to vote against counting electoral votes, the debate over certification will likely be prolonged.
“We are not naïve,” the senators said. “We fully expect most if not all Democrats, and perhaps more than a few Republicans, to vote otherwise. But support of election integrity should not be a partisan issue. A fair and credible audit — conducted expeditiously and completed well before January 20 — would dramatically improve Americans’ faith in our electoral process and would significantly enhance the legitimacy of whoever becomes our next president. We owe that to the people.”
