The electoral vote counting act of 1877 does not provide for eligibility challenges to anyone other than the electors.
"WHEREAS, such a call would have provided an opportunity to address the issue of whether the President elect was eligible in accordance with Article II and would have been prerequisite to valid acceptance of any Certificate, nonetheless Congress accepted the votes of the Electoral College without such a call;
See above.
Here are two "whereas" to add that are critical to achieving success.
1. Whereas The Twentieth Amendment, section three requires that Congress name a replacement President in the event of "death" or "failure to qualify" by the President elect, it is necessary to confirm the status of these two things, "death", or "qualification".
2. Whereas the only remaining qualification criteria required for the Presidency within the Constitution is in Article two, it is necessary to confirm eligibility status of the President elect as to age, natural born citizenship, and residency beyond 14 years.
3.Whereas the wording within section three clearly states "or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify", the burden of "qualifying" is on the President elect and The President elect is required to provide evidence of qualifications to the body charged with replacing him if he fails to qualify.
4. Whereas members of Congress swear an oath to "support this Constitution", they are required to enforce all of it's provisions, including section three of the Twentieth amendment.
oops, should have read “four” whereas.
“The electoral vote counting act of 1877 does not provide for eligibility challenges to anyone other than the electors.”
You and I have discussed this previously.
Lets move beyond 1877 to January 6, 2005 when the entire Congress recognized that 3 USC 15 addressed “irregularities” in the voting process.
Senator Boxer and a member of the House of Representative was able to correctly suspend the proceedings of the Joint Session until both Chambers considered the matter and voted to overrule her objection.
The Congress is charged with certifying the results of the election. Any interpretation that limits the authority of Congress to simply challenging the eligibility of the electors improperly limits Congress ability to perform its obligation.
Imagine if the electors voted for Mickey Mouse, would Congress and the nation be bound?