Every member of the United States Congress has their eyes set to January 6th, when the entire bicameral legislature will hold a vote to certify the 2020 presidential election results.
Senate Republicans, too, are paying close attention to the date as it could disrupt President-Elect Joe Biden from being inaugurated on January 20th.
It’s the final stand.
And, all options are being considered.
One proposition, which is now backed by several Senate Republicans, includes challenging the electoral votes from several battleground states and forming a special commission to determine who ultimately gets the votes.
As Fox News reports, this option is unlike the previous effort brought by Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert, who suggested overturning the results of the states and award their votes to President Trump.
The new effort, introduced by Republican Senator Ted Cruz and 10 other current and incoming members, has historical precedent as it was used in 1876 to allow Rutherford B. Hayes to win the presidency.
Referencing the race between Hayes and his opponent, Samuel Tilden, Cruz argued: “We should follow that precedent.”
In a statement signed by the other members Cruz continued: “To wit, Congress should immediately appoint an Electoral Commission, with full investigatory and fact-finding authority, to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states. Once completed, individual states would evaluate the commission’s findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if needed.”
Republican Senator James Lankford agrees, calling the effort a “very simple” one.
“We’ve asked a very simple question: Can we put together an electoral commission, have five senators, five House members, five members of the Supreme Court?” he explained, as Fox News reports. “This is exactly how it was set up in 1876 when there was three states that had all kinds of fraud issues. And so the election commission was set up at that time in 1876, just like this, to be able to study it, look at it, make recommendations. We think that’s a good plan. Obviously, there are millions and millions of Americans that think there are major issues with the election.”
Americans deserve to know what happened in those states and these Republicans want the facts out in the open.
“No matter how this turns out, we want the facts to come out,” Lankford continued. “We want to make sure every legal vote is counted and votes that aren’t legal are not counted. But regardless of where it goes at the end of it, it goes wherever the American people chose.”
The effort is not backed by all Republicans in the chamber as Senator Lindsey Graham said it has “zero chance of becoming a reality.”
“Proposing a commission at this late date – which has zero chance of becoming reality – is not effectively fighting for President Trump,” Graham said in his own statement. “It appears to be more of a political dodge than an effective remedy.”
Graham will, however, listen “closely to the objections of my colleagues in challenging the results of this election.”
He admitted “they have a high bar to clear” to convince him.