Irrespective of the impetuous accusations being recklessly tossed around about several Republicans in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate concerning the electoral votes in the 2020 election, it’s relevant that too many people do not know or research to learn facts.
It’s just too easy to be lazy and parrot the ignorance and/or the bad intentions of others.
For the men and women who had apprehensions regarding voting in some states in the 2020 election, challenging said states is anything but new in 2021.
The process is mandatory as set forth in the U.S. Constitution’s 12th Amendment coupled with federal law specifying the procedures.
Addressing the fact that the process is not new, its existence is also a product of the Electoral Count Act of 1887, later “amended and codified in Title 3 of the United States Code” (Congressional Research Service).
When the House and the Senate convened on Jan. 6, eight senators and about 140 House members, all Republicans, exercised their rights and duties to challenge the electoral votes of a few specific states.
In simple, clarified language: This convocation was NOT some designed, unique aberration to overturn an election.
It was participating in a mandatory election process to determine the presidency and vice presidency of the United States.
To confront the impertinent slander about the challengers, we can look at more recent elections and reveal the insolent cadre’s deceptive falsehoods.
2000 George W. Bush-Al Gore: “… for nearly 20 minutes in the cavernous House chamber, a dozen members of the Congressional Black Caucus, joined by a few sympathizers, tried in vain to block the counting of Florida’s 25 electoral votes.” All Democrats. (New York Times, Jan. 7, 2001.)
2004 Bush-John Kerry: A group of congressional Democrats alleged “widespread ‘irregularities’ in the Ohio vote counting.“
“The move was not designed to overturn the re-election of President Bush, said Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones and California Sen. Barbara Boxer, who filed the objection.” (CNN.com, Jan. 6, 2005.)
2008 Barack Obama-John McCain: No challenges from Republicans.
2012 Obama-Mitt Romney: No challenges from Republicans.
2016 Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton: Newsweek reported that Democrats Jim McGovern, Jamie Raskin, Pramila Jayapal, Raul Grijalva, Sheila Jackson Lee, Barbara Lee and Maxine Waters objected to votes in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan, Texas, Mississippi, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Barbara Lee focused on alleged “malfunctioning voting machines.”
According to The Hill, Alcee Hastings (regarding the 2000 election) alleged “overwhelming evidence of official misconduct, deliberate fraud and an attempt to suppress voter turnout.”
There is no question that voter irregularities, allegations of fraud and other bad acts, have been part of the election process for decades.
The people who wail the loudest and most often about the constitutional process of contesting electoral votes alleging that such acts are traitorous, un-American and only meant to overturn elections, are the very same people who are either doing just that or giving support.
It is both egregious and dangerous to advocate and spread such propaganda that could not be further from the truth.
It brings to mind the famous phase from Shakespeare: “The lady doth protest too much, me thinks.”
Betty Arenson is a Santa Clarita resident. “Right Here, Right Now” appears Saturdays and rotates among several local Republicans.
