Several Arizona Republicans have thrown their support behind the idea of launching a congressional challenge to the electoral votes during the joint session on Jan. 6.
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) said on Saturday that he plans to “lead the charge” with fellow congress member Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) to object to the electoral college votes for Arizona when they are formally counted next month.
They hope that their challenge could prevent Congress from counting the slate of electoral votes for Democratic nominee Joe Biden in several contested states and instead count the dueling slate of electoral votes cast by Republican presidential electors for President Donald Trump.
“I’m actually gonna be leading the charge with Mo Brooks. I'll be leading on Arizona. I believe that Andy Biggs will be there with me as well. So here we go,” Gosar told The Epoch Times’ sister media NTD News during an interview at a “Stop the Steal” rally in Phoenix.
For a successful challenge to occur, the objection must be made in writing by at least one House member and senator. If the objection meets requirements, the joint session pauses and each house withdraws to their own chamber to debate the question for a maximum of two hours. The House and Senate will then vote separately to accept or reject the objection, which requires a majority vote from both chambers.
He said that he is trying to obtain election data and equipment from state officials in order to conduct forensic audits that could shed some light on these allegations.
“Show the American people, the Arizona people, you know, Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians that the election was fair and if it wasn’t, then we got to take, you know, ideas and make it better,” he said.
Arizona state legislator Rep. Anthony Kern (R), who was also one of the 11 Republican presidential electors who cast a dueling vote on Dec. 14, hopes a congressional challenge could possibly lead to a victory for Trump.
He said for that to happen, Americans need to contact their U.S. representatives and senators to urge them to object to votes cast by the slate of Democratic electors in the contested states.
“So I ask all 74, 80-plus million voters that Trump got that when that happens, call your U.S. congressmen, call your U.S. senators, and send emails, send letters and barrage them to certify the Trump electors,” Kern told NTD News at the same rally.
On Dec. 14, Republican electors in seven states, including Arizona, cast alternate votes for President Donald Trump, setting up a new challenge for Congress when it counts the votes next month. However, critics say that the Republican votes are merely symbolic and do not have the force of the law as they have not been certified by their state officials.
The Republicans said their rationale for sending dueling electors to Congress was to preserve Trump’s legal claim in the election as his team pursues legal challenges over the counting of what they say are illegal votes.
Several other Republican lawmakers in both chambers have not ruled out the possibility of objection, but many have said that they would first monitor the developments regarding claims of voter fraud.
