Oh he absolutely does. Constitution says VP counts the votes. Doesnt say how.
What’ll the dems do if he does? Scream and cry.
Count. Not contest, not challenge.
If you seriously believe that the Founding Fathers vested exclusive authority into a single office, one that was pretty much a muddled afterthought until the 1939 reorganization, to challenge the electoral votes of the states, then I question if you actually hold any beliefs that could be considered “conservative”.