88 State Lawmakers Ask Pence to Delay ‘Opening and Counting’ Electoral Vote for 10 Days

Vice President Mike Pence in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on Nov. 13, 2020. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Eighty-eight state legislators from five battleground states sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence urging him to postpone the opening of electoral votes during the Joint Session of Congress for at least 10 days.

According to their letter, which was organized by Got Freedom: “On January 6, 2021, you are statutorily authorized and required under the Electoral Count Act of 1887 to preside over both houses of Congress to count and record the Presidential electoral vote count to elect the President and Vice President of the United States.”

“This congressionally set deadline, however, is not the supreme law of the land, and in fact must not supersede our state legislative authority under the Constitution. Moreover, the deadline is not necessitated by circumstances, especially when it truncates the fulfillment of our constitutional duties and our responsibility to the American people,” they wrote, as reported by Breitbart.

The lawmakers said that voter fraud, mismanagement by state officials, and unconstitutional laws around mail-in ballots were rampant in Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Over the past two months, President Donald Trump’s team has attempted to highlight allegations and sworn statements about irregularities, fraud, and what they said are unconstitutional laws.

Pence, they argued, should take action during the Joint Session of Congress when members certify the electoral vote. Some GOP senators and representatives have said they will object to key states’ electoral votes.

“Therefore, we write to ask you to comply with our reasonable request to afford our nation more time to properly review the 2020 election by postponing the January 6th opening and counting of the electoral votes for at least 10 days, affording our respective bodies to meet, investigate, and as a body vote on certification or decertification of the election. This action can be completed prior to the inauguration date, as required by the Constitution,” the lawmakers said.

Their letter is the latest in a bid to pressure Pence into sending electoral results back to state legislatures.

On Monday night, Trump said in a statement that a report from The New York Times, which cited anonymous sources claiming that Pence told Trump during a meeting that he has little power, is false.

“The New York Times report regarding comments Vice President Pence supposedly made to me today is fake news … The vice president and I are in total agreement that the vice president has the power to act,” the president said in a statement.

According to the Constitution’s 12th Amendment, Pence, who is president of the Senate, plays a constitutional role during Wednesday’s session.

“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,” it reads in part.