Congress determines the validity of ballots after they are delivered to Congress.
There is no provision anywhere in the Constitution that supports either of these statements.
The role of the joint session of Congress, in which the VP is the presiding officer (as President of the Senate), is to COUNT the electoral votes. That's it.
The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted.
That's a plain reading of the 12th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. There's no room for Congress to be "rejecting any ballot for any reason."
You do *NOT* participate in a criminal process. You say "NO!" I WILL NOT!"
But Pence is a sack of sh*t coward and I wish him only ill.
There is no provision anywhere in the Constitution that supports either of these statements.
The role of the joint session of Congress, in which the VP is the presiding officer (as President of the Senate), is to COUNT the electoral votes. That's it.
Congress had the power to "object" to the ballots. It was in 3 U.S. Code § 15 - Counting electoral votes in Congress. There doesn't seem to be any limits on the grounds for objection, but there does seem to be a limit on the recourse between which electors to accept (outright rejection was not in the code).
All of this was removed from Title 3 in 2022 by Congress.
At the time of the 2020 election, 3 U.S. Code § 15 said this:
...no electoral vote or votes from any State which shall have been regularly given by electors whose appointment has been lawfully certified to according to section 6 of this title from which but one return has been received shall be rejected, but the two Houses concurrently may reject the vote or votes when they agree that such vote or votes have not been so regularly given by electors whose appointment has been so certified.In 2020, Congress MAY reject a slate if they believe the slate was decided illegally. They cannot reject a legal slate if it is the only slate submitted for the state.
3 U.S. Code § 15 also said this:
Upon such reading of any such certificate or paper, the President of the Senate shall call for objections, if any. Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at least one Senator and one Member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received.Congress changed this passage to require 1/5th of the Senate and 1/5th of the House to sign any objection. That's 20 Senators and 87 Representatives!
They also limited the grounds for objections to "The electors of the State were not lawfully certified under a certificate of ascertainment of appointment of electors according to section 5(a)(1)" and "The vote of one or more electors has not been regularly given."
The recourse for Congress was limited to this:
but in case there shall arise the question which of two or more of such State authorities determining what electors have been appointed, as mentioned in section 5 of this title, is the lawful tribunal of such State, the votes regularly given of those electors, and those only, of such State shall be counted whose title as electors the two Houses, acting separately, shall concurrently decide is supported by the decision of such State so authorized by its law;So, Congress had the power to reject a competing slate if it concluded that the slate was not authorized by the legal entity of the state, but it couldn't reject a slate when it was the only slate sent from a state.if there shall have been no such determination of the question in the State aforesaid, then those votes, and those only, shall be counted which the two Houses shall concurrently decide were cast by lawful electors appointed in accordance with the laws of the State, unless the two Houses, acting separately, shall concurrently decide such votes not to be the lawful votes of the legally appointed electors of such State.
But if the two Houses shall disagree in respect of the counting of such votes, then, and in that case, the votes of the electors whose appointment shall have been certified by the executive of the State, under the seal thereof, shall be counted.
BTW, Congress also took away the ability of states to delay in filing their slate of Electors. They repealed 3 U.S. Code § 2, which said:
Whenever any State has held an election for the purpose of choosing electors, and has failed to make a choice on the day prescribed by law, the electors may be appointed on a subsequent day in such a manner as the legislature of such State may direct.
-PJ