Sen. Hawley announces he will contest certification of electoral college vote

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced Wednesday that he would object next week when Congress convenes to certify the electoral college vote, a move that all but ensures at least a short delay in cementing President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. President Trump has repeatedly suggested congressional intervention as a last-ditch way to reverse the election results, despite opposition from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other leading Republicans, who have conceded it is bound to fail and will put their members in an awkward position.

In a statement, Hawley said he feels compelled to put a spotlight on purported election irregularities. “At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections. But Congress has so far failed to act,” Hawley said.

Any member of the House, joined by a member of the Senate, can contest the electoral votes on Jan. 6. The challenge prompts a floor debate followed by a vote in each chamber.

Trump will inevitably lose that vote, given that Democrats control the House and a number of Senate Republicans have publicly recognized Biden’s victory, including Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah), who has called Trump’s refusal to accept the election dangerous. Even in the unlikely event that Trump were to prevail in the Senate, where Vice President Pence would be in position to cast a tie-breaking vote if needed, the challenge still would fail given the House vote.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress-election-vote-certification-objection/2020/12/30/4dce936c-4ab6-11eb-839a-cf4ba7b7c48c_story.html

---

Clickbait WaPo story.

Get these fuckers out of office. I'm sick of the airwaves space they consume and that the media enables for them to consume.

[Thomas Hurt]

1. The whole states rights thing goes right out the window when it suits the RWNJs

[RKP5637]

2. FFS, this seems all the GOP is capable of ... lies and distortions ... cheating and domestic

terrorism.

[kimbutgar]

3. Isn't he a guy who said he wanted to run in 2024?

Pandering to the lowest idiot mf45 supporter.

[Lonestarblue]

7. Exactly! Hawley wants Trump's support in 2024 since Trump is unlikely to run.

By 2024, Trump’s legal cases will have caught up to him, or his dementia will be in full swing—or both will have happened. Hawley may be doing all this for nothing, though, since if Trump can’t run he will push for Jr. or Ivanka to be the candidate.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

31. Yep

Link to tweet

?s=20

Strange days when I agree with Joe Walsh. I don't mean the singer either though I'm sure most of you know that.

[onetexan]

70. Precisely - HeeHaw Hawley is setting himself up for Operation Cry-Baby in 2024, as just mentioned

on Chris Hayes show (i just saw the late night replay just now) where a pundit has just mentioned this.
So dangerous. This punk needs to be curtailed and kicked out of office.

[apnu]

34. He wants Republicans and Democrats on record of treason.

He wants a record of who voted to overturn the legal, fair, and certified election. He wants to win the nomination in 2024? Good luck. We need only run ads in AZ, MI, WI, and PA reminding voters that he tried to take their votes away. Should we make President Kamala buttons now or later this week?

[greenjar_01]

4. Pfffffft...a wet fart

[still_one]

5. Go f**k yourself Hawley. You are a disgrace, and I hope this comes back to bite you in the ass

you anti-Democratic scum

I really hope we win the Georgia runoffs

[Nitram]

6. Thereby insuring that Hawley will go down in history as the anti-democratic moron he is.

[BlueStater]

8. Fuck this opportunistic, grandstanding jizzstain.

Also, I don’t see how accurately reporting what he intends to do is “clickbait”.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. The first part of the story says this --

a move that all but ensures at least a short delay in cementing President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

Something closer to the "reality" is buried down a few lines -

Trump will inevitably lose that vote, given that Democrats control the House

I.e., Joe Biden's "victory" IS assured. There is no "all but".

Written a more "realistic" way should have meant something along the lines of -

"In a futile effort to overturn an election, despite no path to do so given the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, Hawley chose to embrace disputed conspiracy theories to object to the certification anyway."

[onenote]

38. It will delay a process that usually takes around an hour.

It likely will take several hours depending on how many times objections are raised to a state's votes.

[BumRushDaShow]

39. Yes - I posted what typically happens -- from the 2016 Electoral College session below

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=2656266

[onenote]

43. My point is that depending on how the repubs play it, the vote could easily take at least 12 hours

The law allows the House and Senate to debate each objection for up to hours. If objections are raised to Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and the repubs insist on 2 hours of debate each time, the vote wouldn't be finished until after midnight.

[BumRushDaShow]

45. That is assuming each of the objections have both a Senator and House member sign on

It will be a clown show as I noted but will have the result that I noted and that WaPo is equivocating about in the weasely language.

Biden will be declared the winner.

[DesertRat]

51. And fortunately AZ now has 2 Democratic Senators

[BumRushDaShow]

55. Yup - and especially since Kelly took McSally's seat right away

and having Kelly thre right now, the split is 52 - 48 (not counting whatever happens in GA on January 5) so not much wiggle room for them.

[DesertRat]

56. So what will Donnie do when Pence certifies the results?

[BumRushDaShow]

57. Golf?

[Mz Pip]

58. Throw a Twitter tantrum

That’s about all he’s good for these days.

[onenote]

69. The objecting members don't have to be from the state that is the subject of the objection

[Amyishere]

15. Neither do I. This is just fucking evil and people need to take it more seriously.

[BumRushDaShow]

25. There is no "path" to overturning the election.

THAT is what needs to be "taken seriously".

The GOP loons will put on a clown show in front of the CSPAN cameras, afterwhich TupPence will be forced to eventually certify President-elect Joseph R. Biden as the President based on the Electoral College votes. The end.

As a taste of what happens during these sessions - this is what the Democrats did during the 2016 certification -

[onetexan]

71. Thank u for posting this - reassuring. The crooks are all about putting up political theatre now

to throw a bone to their rabid base. Disgusting & so dangerous. Each and everyone of them need to be charged with sedition.

[DBoon]

72. exactly. these people want to install a dictator.

When the popular vote AND the electoral college don't favor them, they will just eliminate voting and assign a dictator for life

[zstat]

9. Lets play ball. Congress under Pelosi leadership will assign a commission - why not?

Lets play ball. Biden and Harris will appoint a special commission to investigate possible "irregularities" in the last election - possible irregularities for presidential votes with "odd" outcomes that have not been formally challenged and outcomes for senate and congressional seats in states with odd results like Kentucky, Florida, etc.
And while the commission is looking into these very relevant issues, lets also examine where voting or trying to vote was a difficult process because of widely different and bizarre rules.

Lets see how this is received by the Mitch.

[The Mouth]

20. Bingo

So far any and all 'fraud' I've seen has benefitted Republican candidates. Let's take a good, close look at the narrow Republican victories.

What's sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose!

[LiberalArkie]

44. Recount/Audit the normally Democratic precincts that went for McConnell this time.

[LiberalLovinLug]

49. This. Take advantage of their infighting.

Like we did with Trump's big mouth and ego saying he'd have issued $2000 cheques. Jump right on it and make it work for Democrats.

Same with the dust storm many of the GOP members make about voter fraud. Call them on their bluff. Announce that Democrats AGREE that there needs to be an in depth investigation of all aspects of election fraud, voter or otherwise. Like you said, including the odd results, the ones that don't match exit polls, and then also include voter suppression and how it may be contravening the rights of Americans to vote in a convenient and timely manner.

If we actually take the Senate, we should be doing this regardless.

[AngryOldDem]

10. This is just bullshit.

Clickbait, maybe. But my gut reaction is that it is definitely time for the Electoral College to go.

And I’m sick of the constant ass-kissing of Trump. The man is a grifting con artist. Not a fucking king.

What if the Dems had challenged Bush v. Gore? In light of all this crap, they should have. Thry had a better case.

[Polybius]

29. Several House members challenged Bush vs. Gore, but couldn't get a single Senator to join

Looking back, what were they thinking? Every Democrat should have contested it.

[William Seger]

50. What they should be contesting is the root of the problem: the Electoral College

[Polybius]

67. They can't contest that though

Only thing that can be done is repeal it with a 2/3rds majority in Congress and 3/4ths of the states. It’s never gonna happen.

[Initech]

12. Traitor!!!!

[AngryOldDem]

17. Exactly.

Let’s start calling this for what it is.

[SheltieLover]

13. Start looking at KY US SENATE!

[William Seger]

14. "Congress has so far failed to act" on WHAT, you yammering yahoo?

[Grins]

40. Maybe "someone" should propose that!

You know. Instead of bitching about it.

This guy is scum just like Tom Cotton.

[Baked Potato]

16. Why do Republicans hate America?

What happened Senator, did you get threatened by a beloved constituent?

[David__77]

18. So, the majority of Republicans in congress will support this.

It's a coup party.

[still_one]

19. They won't have the votes in the House, and they won't be successful in the Senate

Anything bad that happens to these jackasses, is well deserved

[David__77]

24. Yeah, I don't think they'll have the votes in the Senate or the House.

I imagine that there are a number of Republicans who are very troubled/uncomfortable by needing to vote on such a thing.

[hot2na]

21. This is all part of an effort to make it harder to vote

That is because they know that they cannot win if everyone has fair access to the polls.

We cannot let a$$wipes like Hawley get away with baseless claims of voter fraud which only part of a decades long process of voter suppression, since the voting rights act, to make it harder to vote.

Stacy Abrams gets it:

“When we create access to the right to vote for eligible citizens, more people participate,” Abrams told CNN’s Jim Sciutto in an interview Monday morning, “and Republicans do not know how to win without voter suppression as one of their tools.”

https://news.yahoo.com/stacey-abrams-republicans-not-know-152519286.html

[FM123]

22. I wish the Dems would do something to divert attention away from that idiot Hawley when he does that

A few years back, I remember seeing college students stand up and turn their back to Pence when he came to the podium to speak at their commencement - all the cameras swerved onto them and stole Pence's thunder while fellow classmates erupted into applause and drowned him out. Or maybe just dump a bucket of pig's blood onto him like in the movie Carrie.....

[dhill926]

23. the only irregularities...

are ones these assholes made up out of thin air. Except for the trump voters in PA that is.

[franzwohlgemuth]

26. If

there were legitimate reasons to object, he would be fully in his rights to do so. Seeing as there is no legitimate reason... The only reason is he doesn't like him. That is a subversion of the constitution, the people, and a violation of his oath of office (which is an actual federal crime our government is too spineless to actually enforce).

[SWBTATTReg]

28. I tried to register a protest of his actions on his senator website, but no comments aren't being

allowed (got a page not found message). You can sign up for his periodic newsletter and that's it. What a coward, to turn off his comments section of his website. https://www.hawley.senate.gov/contact

This is especially gulling to me being that he's my senator from MO (I'm in STLMO). Can't even maintain his govt website so the people that he supposedly represents can't leave messages or comments to him?

What a disappointment.

[CaptainTruth]

30. 2016 Russian election interference: crickets from the GOP

2020 Trump election delusions: Congress must "adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections"

I am SO sick & tired of the hypocrisy of the GOP.

[William Seger]

37. +1000, and make it...

... PROVEN Russian election interference versus the paranoid delusions of a self-obsessed sociopath (who also claimed that his stupid "reality TV" show lost an Emmy because the voting was rigged, and the only way Hillary could have beat him by 3 million votes was by illegal aliens voting).

Republicans are so far beyond ordinary hypocrisy that it should have a different term. I'm lobbying for "republican" as in, when you see jaw-dropping hypocrisy (e.g. the "religious" right), you say, "How republican of you!"

[apnu]

32. "Get these fuckers out of office." gotta win local elections for that to happen.

Want to get rid of Josh Hawley? Democrats have to win in Missouri. Maybe Stacy Abram's system can be repeated there?

[BumRushDaShow]

35. It's a shame that McCaskill lost to that idiot

But then that is a state where leeway MUST be granted for needing to run a "moderate" like McCaskill.

[bucolic_frolic]

33. Is there a Mental Health Paddy Wagon?

These people are having delusions. Big time. They are seeing things that are not there. They belong in padded cells.

[Nasruddin]

36. Yet another reason for Senate, and electoral, reform

Congress has no business meddling in elections in this manner.

This is more constitutional cruft being activated by a sociopaths and performance artists.

[LiberalFighter]

41. I don't know if John Wagner is an idiot or an asshole.

This statement is not totally correct.

Any member of the House, joined by a member of the Senate, can contest the electoral votes on Jan. 6. The challenge prompts a floor debate followed by a vote in each chamber.

A member of Congress cannot contest the electoral votes for any reason. There are only two grounds for contesting. Whether the electoral vote was given by an elector or if the elector was certified. Only then do they suspend the joint session to vote in separate chambers.

[Orrex]

42. I'd like to formally declare that Hawley can go fuck himself.

[DeminPennswoods]

46. Today Hawley says he'll contest the election, let's see if

he does on Jan 6th.

[lettucebe]

47. What if dems didn't control the House?

Is there actually any way they could pull this off with different circumstances? If so we need an entire overhaul to our government.

[BumRushDaShow]

48. I think there may have been enough in the Senate (GOP)

to have such an attempt fail there too.

[mr_lebowski]

60. That's not the question, and I've been asking this for weeks ...

*IF* one party had simple majorities in each chamber, and the WILL to fuck over the American People, is that actually all that's needed for them to do so? Can a majority in each Chamber simply choose to disregard the will of the voters/electors, and nothing can be done about it?

Is the fact that we hold the House literally the only thing guaranteeing Biden takes office on Jan 20?

Cause if so, that's fucked up.

[BumRushDaShow]

62. Warning - You are blowing off steam at the wrong person

I would think that if your "ifs" were "true", then that would mean that Biden probably wouldn't have won the Presidency either and there wouldn't be all this speculation.

The armageddon scenario that you are presenting would require electing loons in every GOP seat, with no "swing" districts, and with the current nationwide party split, that is difficult to achieve. There have been a number of Reps. and Senators who have accepted the results - and that includes in the Senate.

And the "what can be done" scenario rests with the leadership because they are not about to give up their cushy positions with a civil war.

[mr_lebowski]

63. Didn't mean to sound like I was directing frustration at you brotha!

It's a simple question, leaving aside all that you just said ... CAN the House and Senate DO ... what I just said?

Again, not directed at you, but I've been asking this in threads like this for weeks, and everyone always answers ... like you just did.

Answers essentially saying 'well that'll never happen'.

I'm not asking 'will it, is it likely, etc'. I'm asking CAN IT?

Is that literally all it takes is one party holding simple majorities in both houses, holding a vote before accepting the slates, and all their members deciding to say 'fuck all y'all, we reject your decision', voting in the majority against the People, and that's that?

[BumRushDaShow]

66. Sistah!

And as a direct answer - I am sure they can based on the technicalities of the Constitution and an 1877 law. But the issue is would they and risk a civil war?

But here is the wrinkle in even that scenario that might be an initial stopgap even if both chambers were majority of one party or the other -

Why Trump’s latest Electoral College ploy is doomed to fail
By NICHOLAS RICCARDIDecember 14, 2020

(snip)

The next step is on Jan. 6, when both chambers of Congress meet and accept the electors’ votes. A handful of Republicans in the House have already signaled they plan to object to this. They need to find a Republican senator to potentially force a vote in Congress.But the existence of that alternative slate doesn’t change the facts in Washington — Democrats control the House and aren’t going to overturn Biden’s election by rejecting his electors. Trump quite simply doesn’t have the votes to change anything.

Even in the GOP-controlled Senate, enough Republican senators have signaled objections to Trump’s attempts to overturn the election to make it very unlikely that the chamber would select his alternate slate of “electors” over the Biden ones the battleground states are sending.

If, somehow, the Senate did vote for the rival electors, the deadlock wouldn’t necessarily help Trump. Federal law provides for electors appointed by a state’s governor to win any split decisions in Congress. The governors of all the contested states won by Biden, Democratic and Republican, appointed electors for Biden.

The existence of the rival slates does have a technical impact though — Congress will likely have to go through the motions of rejecting them, said Edward Foley, a law professor at Ohio State University.“They’re dead on arrival and will be treated as frivolous and hardly worth the time of day,” Foley said.

https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-elections-electoral-college-ab4452c5e54dc55b5e45bbe737ae66ee

So apparently the scenario you propose, in some future election, would also require the electors chosen by the states to also go along with selecting the alternate (loser's) slate to be the ones that count, if I read this correctly, and in that case if they didn't, then every single one would have to be rejected by Congress to get to the overthrow scenario.

And even then - I saw this about that 1877 Act (and I'm not one to excerpt from Wikipedia but there are a bunch of PDF links there for reference) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_Count_Act

The Act aims to minimize Congressional involvement in election disputes, instead placing the primary responsibility to resolve disputes upon the states.[2][3] The Act sets out procedures and deadlines for the states to follow in resolving disputes, certifying results, and sending the results to Congress. If a state follows these "safe harbor" standards and the state's governor properly submits one set of electoral votes, the Act states that that "final" determination "shall govern."[4][5] The Act thus relegates Congress to resolving only a narrow class of disputes, such as if a governor has certified two different slates of electors or if a state fails to certify its results under the Act's procedures.[6] Congress may also reject votes under the Act for other specific defects, such as ministerial error, if an elector or candidate are ineligible for office, or if the electoral college votes were not "regularly given."[6][7]

Basically what that is saying is that if states correctly follow the rules for certifying and submitting their Certificates of Acertainment, then Congress is limited regarding the types of objections that they can make and unless compelling, then they must accept what they were sent by the states and can't wholesale just ignore what the states provided, even if they are in the majority in both chambers and the winner is from the opposing party. I expect if they didn't go along with the results filed by the states, then it could bring about a SCOTUS case based on that Act.

Right now you might ask - "Could I go out on 5th Avenue and shoot someone?" And the answer is yes you can. But at what risk?

[packman]

52. Idiot

[Skittles]

53. so.....wearing a mask is tyranny

trying to overturn the legitimate results of an election, not so much

[DesertRat]

54. Contact Hawley's office(s)

Link to tweet

Call @HawleyMO & tell him democracy matters more than his ambition!

D.C. Office: 202-224-6154
Kansas City ​​​​​​​Office: 816-960-4694
St. Louis Office: 314-354-7060
Springfield Office: ​​​​​​​417-869-4433
Columbia Office: ​​​​​​​573-554-1919
Cape Girardeau Office: 573-334-5995

[TeamPooka]

59. MO folks need to start marching outside that guys house today!

not his office, his house.
bring it home to the seditious bastard.

[Evolve Dammit]

61. Agreed.

[calimary]

64. Well, I'd say you can probably kiss your Presidential aspirations goodbye, dude.

We're gonna remind-remind-remind about this as you rear your ugly stupid treasonous Constitution-defiling head toward 2024.

Then again, if trump keeps making "I'm gonna run again" noises about 2024, your ambitions will likely be stillborn, anyway. He's enough of a dick to dick with your plans and everybody else's.

[marble falls]

65. Even he knows he's leaving. He's posturing to keep himself out of prison and solvent.

[COL Mustard]

68. Josh Hawley, The Sniveling Young Punk From Missouri

Shows his true colors. They are brown and green, like most snakes in the grass.

Edited to add: I mean no disrespect to actual snakes. They perform a vital service by consuming vermin. Maybe Hawley is both the rat and the snake?

[Septua]

73. He is what he is...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/30/let-josh-hawley-put-republicans-uncomfortable-test/