Ted Cruz mounts new challenge to Biden victory

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, of Texas, has banded together with a large group of Republican senators who will object to the Electoral College certification of the results of the presidential election on Wednesday 6 January.

The group intends to demand a commission be set up to carry out an emergency audit of the votes that are disputed in various states.

The group, headed by Cruz who orchestrated the measure, includes Senataors Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; James Lankford, R-Okla.; Steve Daines, R-Mont.; John Kennedy, R-La.; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Mike Braun, R-Ind.; and Senators.-elect Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.; Roger Marshall, R-Kansas; Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., and Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.

The manoeuvre is separate from efforts by Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley who is mounting a similar objection on the grounds that a number of states including Pennsylvania failed to adhere to their state election laws.

Both measurers appear to have the support of the U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.

“Vice President Pence shares the concerns of millions of Americans about voter fraud and irregularities in the last election. The Vice President welcomes the efforts of members of the House and Senate to use the authority they have under the law to raise objections and bring forward evidence before the Congress and the American people on January 6th,” Marc Short, the Vice President’s Chief of Staff said in a statement released on Saturday.

“Voter fraud has posed a persistent challenge in our elections, although its breadth and scope are disputed,” the Cruz group said Saturday in a statement. “By any measure, the allegations of fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election exceed any in our lifetimes.”

It should be noted no evidence has yet emerged to support the allegations. Scores of legal challenges advanced by the Trump campaign and supporters of the campaign have been routinely rejected by U.S. courts.

The group says there are precedents for their action, noting Democrats objected to election results in 1969, 2001, 2005, and 2019.

Video screenshot of Senator Ted Cruz, R-Tx

They also say there is a precedent for the establishment of a commission, citing a similar move in the 19th century.

“In 1877, Congress did not ignore those allegations, nor did the media simply dismiss those raising them as radicals trying to undermine democracy,” the senators said in their statement. “Instead, Congress appointed an Electoral Commission, consisting of five Senators, five House Members, and five Supreme Court Justices, to consider and resolve the disputed returns.”

“We should follow that precedent. 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.”

“A fair and credible audit – conducted expeditiously and completed well before January 20would dramatically improve Americans’ faith in our electoral process and would significantly enhance the legitimacy of whoever becomes our next President. We owe that to the People,” the statement said.

The Cruz group has vowed that if their proposal is not adopted they will vote against the certification.

“Accordingly, we intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘lawfully certified,’ unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed,” the statement said.

“These are matters worthy of the Congress, and entrusted to us to defend. We do not take this action lightly. We are acting not to thwart the democratic process, but rather to protect it,” the senators said. “And every one of us should act together to ensure that the election was lawfully conducted under the Constitution and to do everything we can to restore faith in our Democracy.”