The U.S. Capitol went into a lockdown Wednesday as lawmakers were conducting a formal tally of Electoral College votes and debating objections to the results.
Under the Constitution, the final step in the 2020 presidential election is for a joint session of Congress to meet on Jan. 6 to count the votes and officially declare a winner. Governors certified and sealed their states’ results after their electors signed off on them on Dec. 14, and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won with 306 votes to Donald Trump and Mike Pence’s 232 votes.
This session is typically a ceremonial affair, but this year, the protests and the lockdown highlight the bitterly divided reaction between the two parties to the 2020 presidential election, as many Republicans falsely decry rigged results.
The first objection was launched shortly after the session began, on the state of Arizona. The lawmakers then began up to two hours of debate, with the House and Senate debating and voting on the objections separately.
Around 2 p.m. ET, both chambers went into recess, however, as Capitol Police notified staff to shelter in place. It is unclear when the proceedings will presume.
Vice President Pence presides over the joint session, and it is his duty under the law to announce the results. Members of the House and Senate convened in the House chamber at 1 p.m. ET.
The certificates from each state are opened and read in alphabetical order. According to GOP sources familiar with the discussions about the plans, the Republican lawmakers planning to object on Wednesday are focused primarily on three states — Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania. They are also weighing challenges for Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin.
Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz signed onto the challenge regarding Arizona’s results and is pressing for the appointment of an electoral commission that can examine any claims related to voter fraud.
Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, who was the first senator to announce he would join the House GOP effort, has indicated he is focused on Pennsylvania. Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who just lost her seat in a runoff decided overnight, announced Monday she would sign on to a challenge to her home state’s results.
Process for considering and voting on an objection
If any House member is joined by a senator to object to any state’s electoral vote tally, they can object and force a debate and votes. More than a dozen Republican senators and a large group of House GOP lawmakers have indicated they will register challenges to multiples states’ results.
Some of those members even acknowledged that they don’t expect to succeed or change the outcome but are using the process to highlight what they believe are instances of fraud. None have provided any evidence to date, and legal challenges in states mounted by the Trump campaign and its allies have consistently failed.
If both a House member and senator register their objection in writing, the joint session is recessed, and the House and Senate meet separately to debate the issue for up to two hours. Members are allowed up to 5 minutes each to speak, and then both chambers vote. A simple majority is needed in both chambers for an objection to succeed.
With social distancing rules during the coronavirus pandemic, voting takes longer, so each objection could result in multiple hours of debate and vote timing.
