[DiogenesLamp]

He had zero authority to do any such thing.

Disagree absolutely. When they cheated, he had all the authority he needed to refuse to accept the cheat.

The Vice President counts the votes. This implicitly gives him the authority to decide what is a vote and what is not a vote.

They play Calvinball, we stomp them into the dirt with the same Calvinball tactics.

[2aProtectsTheRest]

"The Vice President counts the votes."

See, this is the biggest problem with having these discussions: they require that we all know the facts. The VP does not count the votes. The House and Senate tellers do.

"This implicitly gives him the authority to decide what is a vote and what is not a vote."

So you think that the tellers of the House and Senate have the authority to unilaterally decide who the President of the United States is? That's a scary thought.

[DoodleDawg]

Disagree absolutely. When they cheated, he had all the authority he needed to refuse to accept the cheat.

Oh did he now?

The Vice President counts the votes. This implicitly gives him the authority to decide what is a vote and what is not a vote.

No, the 12th Amendment says that the President of the Senate will open the votes in the presence of the Senate and that they shall then be counted. By law it is the four tellers, two from the House and two from the Senate, who do the counting. Nowhere in the 12th Amendment, Article 2, or in 3 U.S. Code § 15 does it give the President of the Senate the power, implicitly or explicitly, to reject votes certified by the states.