Republican senator to object to certification of Joe Biden win

A Republican senator will object to congress’s certification next week of the results of the November 3 US presidential election.

Donald Trump leaves his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Picture: AFP

A Republican senator said on Thursday AEDT he would object to congress’s certification next week of the results of the November 3 US presidential election, a move that may slightly delay — but not derail — the final confirmation of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.

Several Republican members of the House of Representatives have also said they plan to object to the January 6 certification of the Electoral College vote but Josh Hawley of Missouri was the first senator to confirm so.

Vice-President Mike Pence is to lead the joint session of congress that certifies the Electoral College results. Mr Biden won 306 Electoral College votes while Donald Trump won 232.

Congressional certification of the results has historically been a formality but Mr Trump has refused to acknowledge his defeat and spent the past two months making unsustained claims of election fraud. Dozens of lawsuits brought by the Trump campaign and the President’s allies alleging election irregularities have been dismissed by courts around the country.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has sought to dissuade fellow Republicans from objecting to certification of the results but Senator Hawley said he planned to do so and he may be joined by other GOP senators.

At least one member of the house and one member of the Senate needs to lodge an objection to certification to send it to the floor for debate and a vote.

A vote would be doomed to failure, however, in the Democrat-controlled house and would also be unlikely to pass in the ­Republican-majority Senate, where a number of Republicans have already acknowledged Mr Biden’s victory.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Senator Hawley’s move would come to nothing. “I have no doubt that on next Wednesday … a week from today, that Joe Biden will be confirmed by the acceptance of the vote of the Electoral College as the 46th president of the United States,” Ms Pelosi said.

Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the Biden transition team who has been tapped to be next White House press secretary, also said the move would not prevent the president-elect from taking office on January 20. “Regardless of what anyone is up to on January 6, president-elect Biden will be sworn in on the 20th.”

Senator Hawley said he was objecting to certification because of concerns about “election integrity” and noted that Democrats had done so in the past.

“Following both the 2004 and 2016 elections, Democrats in congress objected during the certification of electoral votes in order to raise concerns about election integrity,” he said. “And they were entitled to do so.

“But now those of us concerned about the integrity of this election are entitled to do the same. At the very least, congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections.”

Mr Trump has called on his supporters to converge on Washington on January 6 to pressure congress not to certify Mr Biden’s win. The rally could draw thousands of Trump backers who believe massive voting fraud caused his defeat.

AFP