US: Nearly a dozen Republican senators threaten to object to election results

Eleven Senate Republicans on Saturday announced that they would vote for objections to the Electoral College results come Wednesday when the US Congress convenes in a joint session to formally count the vote.

The senators called on the US Congress to appoint an Electoral Commission to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in disputed states.

According to The Hill, GOP (Grand Old Party -- another slang for the Republican Party) Senators Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, James Lankford, Steve Daines, John Kennedy, Marsha Blackburn and Mike Braun and Senators-elect Cynthia Lummis, Roger Marshall, Bill Hagerty and Tommy Tuberville said in a joint statement that they will vote against accepting the election results until there is a 10-day audit.

"Congress should immediately appoint an Electoral Commission, with full investigatory and fact-finding authority, to conduct an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in the disputed states," they said.

"Once completed, individual states would evaluate the Commission's findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if needed," the joint statement read further.

"Accordingly, we intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not 'regularly given' and 'lawfully certified' (the statutory requisite), unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed," they added.

However, according to the statement, there were no mention whether they plan to object to the results from specific states and "how they would divvy up those objections" or if they would just vote in support of challenges to the Electoral College results if they reach the Senate.

The GOP senators further said that a "fair and credible" audit-conducted expeditiously and completed well before January 20 "would dramatically improve Americans' faith in our electoral process and would significantly enhance the legitimacy of whoever becomes our next President."

They added, "These are matters worthy of the Congress, and entrusted to us to defend. We do not take this action lightly. We are acting not to thwart the democratic process, but rather to protect it."

The Senators said that the election of 2020, like the election of 2016, was hard-fought and, in many swing states, narrowly decided.

"The 2020 election, however, featured unprecedented allegations of voter fraud, violations and lax enforcement of election law, and other voting irregularities," the senators said.

Sputnik reported that seven incumbent and four elected members of the US upper house have spoken in favour of individual states assessing the commission's findings and, if necessary, holding a special legislative session to certify the adjusted election results.

Biden was confirmed the winner of the November presidential election by the Electoral College on December 14 after all 50 states officially certified the voting results.

According to official results, Biden collected 306 electoral votes as opposed to 232 votes cast for incumbent US President Donald Trump.

The US Congress will meet in the joint session on January 6 to confirm the Electoral College votes, with Vice President Mike Pence presiding over the session to count the votes from each state. Biden's inauguration is scheduled for January 20.