Matt Gaetz Announces He Will Be Challenging Electoral College Votes On January 6th

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said Saturday that he intends to challenge Electoral College votes when they are counted during a joint session of Congress on January 6.

During the first day of the Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit, Gaetz addressed the crowd saying “So on January 6, I’m joining with the fighters in the Congress and we are going to object to electors from states that didn’t run clean elections.”

Congressional Republicans are considering joining efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election. Republican Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) launched the push when he announced he was planning to appeal the Electoral College vote in January, while several other Republican lawmakers from both chambers remained open to assisting the effort.

Objections during the joint session must be raised in writing by at least one member of the House of Representatives and one Senator. If the objection meets the requirements, the joint session gets put on pause, and each House must take time in their own chamber to examine the issue for a maximum of two hours. Votes will then be separately casted by the House and Senate to allow or deny the objection, which requires a majority vote from both chambers.

If both chambers votes conflict against each other, then federal law states “the votes of the electors whose appointment shall have been certified by the executive of the State, under the seal thereof, shall be counted.”

Several Republican senators are considering possibly objecting, but said they would first observe the current developments regarding claims of voter fraud. Meanwhile, newly elected Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) previously hinted he might join the House's planned objection.

Gaetz said during his speech that he spoke with Tuberville shortly before the event, who told him he wanted to join the effort.

“I had a chance to speak to coach Tuberville just moments ago and he says we are done running plays from the establishment’s losing playbook, and it’s time to fight,” Gaetz said.

“Now coach Tubervillve went for it a lot on fourth down when he was coaching at Auburn. They called him the Mississippi riverboat gambler. The odds may be tough, it may be fourth and long, but we’re going for it on January 6.”

Lawmakers are expected to wage an uphill battle with critics who argue that the strategy of selecting the alternative Republican vote is far from a done deal, as many of those votes were not authorized by state agencies.

“Under the law, both the House and Senate would need to agree to object to the real electors and accept the fake electors,” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) affirmed. “There is 0.00% chance the House reverses the election.”

On Dec. 14, Republican electors in seven different states are casting alternate votes for President Donald Trump, creating a new challenge for Congress when the votes are counted during next month. Critics, however, are claiming the Republican votes are merely symbolic and do not have the full force of the law because their state representatives have not confirmed them.

Republicans said their motivation for sending dueling voters to Congress was to preserve Trump's legal claims against the election, as his team seeks legal challenges over the irregularities in votes casted.

Trump's campaign, along with several third parties, have filed many lawsuits seeking to discredit a portion of the ballots they say were casted under illegal circumstances, or in contradiction of state election laws or the U.S. Constitution.

Many of these cases were rejected by judges on procedural grounds, such as lack of powers to bring a case; lack of jurisdiction to bring a case; carelessness, because there is no longer any dispute between the parties; and lack of diligence, because of a judge ruling. The allegations did not convince other judges.

President Donald Trump and his allies have built court cases to ensure that any concerns about voting irregularities and alleged unconstitutional measures applied by state and election officials are investigated to ensure confidence in the final outcome.