[Dr. Franklin]

The "as I understand it" part you describe seems reasonable, but it simply is not correct. Read the 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It says nothing about the VP having that kind of power.

The Twelfth Amendment refers to "certificates", but makes no mention of who issues them. Since the state legislature itself has the constitutional power to select the presidential electors, the constitutional administrator of the election, VPOTUS, could refer any dubious "certificates" back to the legislature for their official certification. Pence failed the test. His name is now Mudd Pence

[DoodleDawg]

The Twelfth Amendment refers to "certificates", but makes no mention of who issues them.

Yes it does. The 12th Amendment clearly states, "The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President...and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and all persons voted for as Vice-President and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate."

Since the state legislature itself has the constitutional power to select the presidential electors, the constitutional administrator of the election, VPOTUS, could refer any dubious "certificates" back to the legislature for their official certification.

Who determines if a certificate is "dubious" or not?

[Alberta's Child]

A state legislature is well within its power to assign the authority for certifying an election to the executive branch of the state government. I suspect most (if not all) of them do exactly that.