IT: Warnock wins GA, other race too close to call, and... 👎 Should Pence "reject" the electoral votes today?

Welcome to Wednesday, January 6th, hares and turtles...

Nearing 3 a.m., Rev. Raphael Warnock (D) claimed victory in the Georgia runoff while John Ossof (D) held a narrow lead over (former) Sen. David Perdue (R).

However, state elections officials are saying the remaining outstanding votes will be coming from mostly Democratic-leaning counties.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) said we should have a better sense of where the race is by noon today.

In the midst of the tally, Trump tweeted:

And? How you feeling about the results? (Change your emotion as needed)

Trump Pressures Pence to Reject Electoral Votes

President Trump is urging Vice President Mike Pence to "reject fraudulently chosen electors" during today's tally of Electoral College votes.

"The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors," Trump tweeted on Tuesday.

This is not true. Pence does not have the power to toss out electoral votes when Congress meets to certify the results of the election. The job of the vice president is a ceremonial one: overseeing the tabulation of the Electoral College votes.

According to 12th Amendment of the Constitution:

“The president of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes shall be the president."

Should Pence try to "reject" the electoral votes?

The Joint Session

When Congress meets in a joint session to certify the results of the Electoral College, objections to any state’s returns may be raised in writing by at least one senator and one member of the House.

If a qualified objection is raised, the joint session recesses so the House and Senate can debate the question in their respective chambers for up to two hours before voting to accept or reject the objection. 

Majority votes are required in both chambers for an objection to be sustained and the contested electoral votes excluded, and the joint session then picks up where it left off in the state-by-state certification process.

These procedures have been in effect since the enactment of the Electoral Count Act of 1887.

About a dozen Republican senators and numerous members of the House GOP are expected to raise objections to the election results in states where they alleged voter fraud occurred which resulted in President Trump’s defeat.

Should the joint session certify Biden’s victory in the Electoral College?

And, in the End…

Grab a utensil, it's Bean Day.

You'll have to speak up, I've got beans in my ears,

—Josh Herman

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