Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AR) is working with outgoing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) to remove a vice president’s capacity to officially certify or ask if senators have objections to the electoral process in presidential elections.
The legislative initiative would curtail the 1887 Electoral Count Act, which gives the president of the Senate (vice president) the authority in the Senate to certify a presidential election if no objections are made. The U.S. Code states:
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.
But Murkowski and Cheney want to change the law so the vice president no longer has the authority to certify or call for objections. The legislation is supported by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Both chambers have their own version of the bill. The Senate version is sponsored by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV).
The legislative proposal follows claims that former Vice President Mike Pence did not have the authority to decertify the 2020 presidential election vote. Yet the proposed legislation acknowledges that Pence could have decertified the vote, throwing the electoral process into uncharted territory.
“Some leaders even argue that the vice president of the United States can reject or refuse to count electoral votes and thereby select the president. This is legal absurdity,” Cheney claimed Monday during a speech at the American Enterprise Institute.
It is not the first time that Murkowski and Cheney have worked together. Both legislators voted to impeach former President Donald Trump. Both have voted with Democrats on numerous occasions to further President Joe Biden’s political goals.
21-year incumbent Murkowski (R-AK) has even adopted departing Cheney’s January 6 insurrection narrative heading into the November midterm election. “That was insurrection,” Murkowski claimed on the With All Due Respect podcast with Andrew Halcro, referring to the riot.
“Criminals who come in, who raided the capital on January 6, need to be tried under the due process of the law. … We need to make sure we’ve got a process that is truly fair under our Constitution, and that is what we are seeing going forward,” she said. “I’ve got faith in our judicial process.”
Murkowski, tied in the polls with Trump-endorsed Kelly Tshibaka, did not mention that many January 6 rioters have been held in 23-hour-a-day isolation before their trials begin. A January 6 defendant has called the maximum-security conditions “mental torture,” which treatment starkly contrasts to Democrat policies of expelling criminals, including child rapists, from prison on parole.
It appears Tshibaka is gaining momentum. Three former U.S. Senate candidates in recent weeks have suspended their campaigns and coalesced behind Tshibaka instead of the 21-year incumbent. Because of ranked-choice voting, endorsements from former candidates are exactly what Tshibaka needs to win.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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