Republicans to challenge electoral vote

It is so scripted by the US Constitution and the Electoral Count Act of 1887 that few members of Congress attend. But not this year.

On Wednesday, when the US Congress holds a joint session to count each state's Electoral College vote as it does after every presidential election, Republican lawmakers who are allies of President Donald Trump will attempt a final, last-gasp stand to overturn his loss to Joe Biden.

Eleven Republican Senators and more than 100 Republican members of the House have pledged to object to state results and refuse to certify Biden's win in the Electoral College. Biden got 306 electoral votes, more than the 270 needed to win the White House. Trump got 232.

Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, a Trump ally, has said he will join a group of House Republicans to force a debate and vote on the Electoral College results.

At the urging of Trump, supporters are planning to descend on the nation's capital to pressure Republican lawmakers into overturning Biden's Electoral College victory.

Those opposing the Republican plan have called it political theater and a publicity stunt.

"It is undemocratic. It is un-American. And fortunately, it will be unsuccessful. In the end, democracy will prevail," Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, the top Democrat on the panel overseeing the Electoral College count, said in a statement.

Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, who lost the presidential election in 2012 to Barack Obama, said his colleagues' challenge "continues to spread the false rumor that somehow the election was stolen".

He said "spreading this kind of rumor about our election system not working is dangerous for democracy here and abroad".

When Congress meets at 1 pm in the House chamber, as president of the Senate, Republican Vice-President Mike Pence is required to preside over the vote count, per the 12th Amendment to the US Constitution.

His authority is detailed in the Electoral Count Act. It requires Pence to open each state's sealed envelopes in alphabetical order, to turn the vote count of each state to "tellers" and to announce the count.

Legal procedures

By law, if a member from both the House and the Senate file written objections to the Electoral College result of a state, both chambers must adjourn to their respective chambers, debate the objection for a maximum of two hours, and then vote to accept or reject the protest.

If Republicans object to the electoral votes from several states, it could force the joint session of Congress to last for several hours and the process may well spill into the following day.

The Democratic-controlled House is expected to vote down any objection.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has urged Republican senators not to object to Biden's win, infuriating Trump.

With McConnell and other GOP lawmakers having already recognized Biden as the president-elect, they are also expected to vote down any objection.

After all the electoral votes are counted, Pence－who has not acknowledged that Trump lost his bid for reelection－is required to declare the winner of the election.

The last time a senator supported an objection of Electoral College votes was in January 2005 after the 2004 election. Then-Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, backed Ohio Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones' objection to the electoral votes in Ohio, the deciding state in George W. Bush's election victory over Democrat John Kerry.

Their objection got one vote in the Senate－Boxer's－and 31 votes in the House, all from Democrats.

Xinhua contributed to this story.