Posted on 11/12/2016 2:48:11 PM PST by LeoWindhorse
The Twelfth Amendment mandates Congress assemble in joint session to count the electoral votes and declare the winners of the election.[57] The session is ordinarily required to take place on January 6 in the calendar year immediately following the meetings of the presidential electors.[58] Since the Twentieth Amendment, the newly elected House declares the winner of the election; all elections before 1936 were determined by the outgoing House.
The meeting is held at 1:00 pm in the Chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives.[58] The sitting vice president is expected to preside, but in several cases the President pro tempore of the Senate has chaired the proceedings. The vice president and the Speaker of the House sit at the podium, with the vice president in the seat of the Speaker of the House. Senate pages bring in the two mahogany boxes containing each state’s certified vote and place them on tables in front of the senators and representatives. Each house appoints two tellers to count the vote (normally one member of each political party). Relevant portions of the Certificate of Vote are read for each state, in alphabetical order.
Members of Congress can object to any state’s vote count, provided objection is presented in writing and is signed by at least one member of each house of Congress. An objection supported by at least one senator and one representative will be followed by the suspension of the joint session and by separate debates and votes in each House of Congress; after both Houses deliberate on the objection, the joint session is resumed. A state’s certificate of vote can be rejected only if both Houses of Congress vote to accept the objection. In that case, the votes from the State in question are simply ignored. The votes of Arkansas and Louisiana were rejected in the presidential election of 1872.[59]
Objections to the electoral vote count are rarely raised, although it did occur during the vote count in 2001 after the close 2000 presidential election between Governor George W. Bush of Texas and the Vice President of the United States, Al Gore. Gore, who as vice president was required to preside over his own Electoral College defeat (by five electoral votes), denied the objections, all of which were raised only by several representatives and would have favored his candidacy, after no senators would agree to jointly object. Objections were again raised in the vote count of the 2004 elections, and on that occasion the document was presented by one representative and one senator. Although the joint session was suspended, the objections were quickly disposed of and rejected by both Houses of Congress. If there are no objections or all objections are overruled, the presiding officer simply includes a state’s votes, as declared in the certificate of vote, in the official tally.
After the certificates from all states are read and the respective votes are counted, the presiding officer simply announces the final result of the vote and, provided the required absolute majority of votes was achieved, declares the names of the persons elected president and vice president. This announcement concludes the joint session and formalizes the recognition of the president-elect and of the vice president-elect. The senators then depart from the House Chamber. The final tally is printed in the Senate and House journals.
Waste of time to worry about this crap - they lost and have to have something to do to make themselves feel like they are doing something for "the cause"....the ones signing this probably aren't out burning places down - let them have their fun and be prepared for a new spate of calls to suicide hot lines when it comes to naught - serial disappointments is the therapy they need to begin the process of growing up....
Maybe because Trump supporters really do need to speak up and push for the Electoral College to vote as their respective states voted.
If they can speak up, so can we.
I think the EC needs to hear us as well.
Sorry Clinton supporters, no way around this not even with executive orders.
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