Daily US Times: A Republican from the state of Missouri says he will be the first senator to object when Congress certifies US President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory next week.
Senator Josh Hawley said he had election integrity concerns, despite a lack of evidence for widespread voter fraud.
A group of Republicans in the House of Representatives is also planning to contest the election results.
But the objections are not expected to change the result of the November 3 election.
The US Electoral College earlier this month cemented Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump by 306-232. The Electoral College confirms November’s presidential election result by awarding points for each state won by the two White House rivals –
These votes must be affirmed by Congress on January 6. Inauguration Day, when the new Democratic president Joe Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris are sworn in, will be on January 20.
Since losing the election, President Donald Trump has repeatedly alleged systemic voting fraud without substantiation. The Republican president’s legal efforts to overturn results have been rejected by the courts.
Mr Hawley said he could not vote to certify the results of the election “without raising the fact that some states, particularly Pennsylvania, failed to follow their own state election laws”.
“At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections. But Congress has so far failed to act,” he said.
Mr Hawley – a first-term senator who is also rumoured to have presidential ambitions – did not specify any electoral fraud that could have changed the final result.
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