Rep. Tim Bonner Election Update
Election Update
The Electoral College delegates met on Dec. 14, and cast their votes for president and vice president. Joseph Biden was selected as president and Kamala Harris was selected as vice president.There is a final opportunity for legislative review of the election outcome by the United States Congress when it meets on Jan. 6, 2021, to count the votes of the Electoral College delegates and officially declare the next president and vice president of the United States. If an objection to the Electoral College delegation from any particular state, which has unresolved court action regarding the presidential election as of Dec. 9, is signed by at least one member of the United States House of Representatives and one member of the United States Senate, the House and Senate will separately consider the objections and vote to approve or deny the objections. If the objection is approved by both houses, the state delegation objected to is disqualified and cannot vote. If either house rejects the objections, the delegates are permitted to cast their votes.
The successful candidates for president and vice president must receive at least 270 Electoral College votes to be elected to the office. If neither candidate receives 270 Electoral College votes, then the Congress decides the next president or vice president. For president of the United States, each state delegation in the House of Representatives casts one vote with a majority vote of 26 states from the respective state delegations in the House of Representatives needed to become the next president. For example, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and California would each cast one vote. For vice president, each senator receives one vote with 51 votes from the Senate needed to become vice president.
As a result of the governor’s refusal to conduct an election audit, and the continuing allegations of fraud and irregularities in the election, I joined 31 Republican legislators in a letter to the governor requesting the calling of a special session of the General Assembly to meet and conduct hearings on the alleged wrongdoings of this election for the purpose of adopting needed legislation for election reforms. A special session of the General Assembly is needed to be called by the governor in accord with the Pennsylvania Constitution to immediately conduct such hearings as the legislators’ terms of office expired on Nov. 30, and the newly elected General Assembly is next to meet, in accord with the Constitution, on Jan. 5, 2021.
Unfortunately, the governor rejected our informal request for a special session dedicated to an investigation of alleged election irregularities. Therefore, we are now in the process of seeking support for a petition to the governor, hopefully signed by a majority of the state legislators, which will also request the governor to call a special session on election issues and concerns. As of this date, a majority of the legislators have not signed on to the petition. I had also joined in a letter by Republican state House members to the Pennsylvania attorney general calling for a special prosecutor to be appointed to investigate the alleged election law violations. This request has been denied by the attorney general.
Going forward, the Pennsylvania General Assembly will exercise its constitutional duty to oversee the 2020 election process and seek answers to your questions and hopefully implement needed reforms. In particular, we will examine: 1) the security of voting, any fraudulent undermining of the election and the manner in which votes were counted; 2) the secretary of the Commonwealth’s management of the election; and 3) the impact of the judiciary on legislating changes to the Pennsylvania election code.
The State Senate Policy Committee last month held a hearing in Gettysburg that generated significant allegations of fraud. This information has been given to the United States attorney general who has authority to investigate and prosecute such allegations. The General Assembly does not have the legal authority to prosecute such violations.
Just as I have over the past nine months in the battle to protect your rights in the pandemic struggle with the governor, I will continue to fight for all of our rights to make certain that this election, and future elections, are conducted in a fair and lawful manner in accord with the rule of law.
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