Biden election win official as Trump plots 11th-hour scheme to reverse result
Joe Biden’s electoral college victory in the 2020 presidential election is formally in the books.
The Electoral College gave Joe Biden a majority of its votes when it convened on Monday (local time), confirming his victory in last month’s election in state-by-state voting in a process that took on added importance this year because of Donald Trump’s refusal to concede defeat.
Heightened security was in place in some states as electors met on the day mandated by federal law to officially lodge the election result.
There was little suspense and no surprises as all the electoral votes allocated to Biden and Trump in last month’s popular vote went to each man.
The results will be sent to Washington and tallied in a January 6 joint session of Congress over which Vice President Mike Pence will preside.
“In this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed,” the incoming president Joe Biden said.
“We the people voted. Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact. And so, now it is time to turn the page. To unite. To heal.”
Trump backers scheme for dramatic election reversal
It was a moment many had hoped would signal the end of Trump’s campaign to undermine the election result. But the president and a handful of loyal supporters are reportedly cooking up an 11th-hour scheme to try and reverse the election result on the floor of parliament.
According to The New York Times, a small group of his most loyal backers in Congress are plotting a final-stage challenge on the floor of the House of Representatives in early January to try to reverse Biden’s victory.
It puts Mike Pence – who has been at least tacitly loyal to the president’s assault on the country’s democracy – in a rather awkward spot.
As the Times reported, the spectacle would be deeply divisive and another awkward loyalty test for Republicans when Congress meets to declare the winner.
The constitution assigns to the vice president the formal task of tallying the results and declaring a winner on January 6, meaning Pence will have to declare Joe Biden the winner in the face of a possible 11th-hour revolt.
The ploy by Trump backers is reportedly being led by conservative Alabama congressman Mo Brooks and is focused on arguing against the vote counts in battleground states of Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia, and Wisconsin – which were all won by Biden.
Under the constitution, the Republicans could force federal lawmakers to vote on voiding certain state’s vote counts (likely under the guise of voter fraud) but the proposal would trigger a lengthy debating process.
Ultimately both the Democratic-controlled lower house and Republican-controlled senate would have to agree to disqualify a state’s electoral votes — something that is almost unthinkable, especially in the Democratic controlled chamber.
But Brooks – who is has not been shy about the plan – appears bullish.
“We have a superior role under the constitution than the Supreme Court does, than any federal court judge does, than any state court judge does,” he told The New York Times.
“What we say, goes. That’s the final verdict.”
Legal experts say the long-shot idea would have almost no chance of prevailing.
Trump team vows to fight to the bitter end
Not one to be deterred by reality, Trump and his team have taken the formalisation of Joe Biden’s electoral college victory in stride.
Earlier, senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller appeared on Fox News and brushed off the idea that the electoral college vote marked any kind of end to the president’s war on the election result.
“The only date in the Constitution is January 20 (when Biden would be sworn in). So we have more than enough time to right the wrong of this fraudulent election result and certify Donald Trump as the winner of the election,” he said.
Despite overwhelming failures in legal battles across the country, the Trump team has continued with angry sideshows in a bid to push the so-far baseless claims of election malfeasance.
“As we speak, today, an alternate slate of electors in the contested states is going to vote and we're going to send those results up to Congress,” Miller told Fox.
“This will ensure that all of our legal remedies remain open. That means that if we win these cases in the courts, that we can direct that the alternate state of electors be certified.”
Such a plan has been labelled a meaningless stunt, with The Washington Post saying the plan described by Miller was “nothing but a pile of steaming nonsense”.
Stephen Vladeck, a professor of law at the University of Texas said without control of the House of Representatives, there was really nothing the Republicans can do to stop the inevitable.
“Don’t be distracted by these preposterous mock electoral votes—they don’t change how anything is going to unfold, since congressional Republicans could’ve objected without them,” he said on Twitter.
“Either way, without a House majority, all Republicans can do is slow the counting down [on January 6], not stop it.”
with AP
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