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Home / World

Donald Trump's last-ditch play as electoral college vote seals election defeat

news.com.au
14 Dec, 2020 09:25 PM5 mins to read

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Stephen Miller Trump Campaign Senior Advisor insisted today the Trump campaign still had 'more than enough time' to overturn. Video / Fox News

One of Donald Trump's advisers, Stephen Miller, insisted today the Trump campaign still had "more than enough time" to overturn "this fraudulent election result", despite today's electoral college vote.

One reason for his confidence? In a handful of the swing states, supporters of the President have been holding their own "alternative" votes.

"An alternate slate of electors in the contested states is going to vote and we are going to send those results to Congress," Miller told Fox News.

"You have an alternate slate of electors in a state like, say, Wisconsin. Or in a state like Georgia. And we'll make sure that those results are sent up side-by-side to Congress.

"We have the opportunity, every day between now and January 20, to say that slate of electors in the contested states is the slate that should be certified to uphold a free and fair election and an honest result."

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These "alternate" electoral college votes Miller promised have indeed been taking place today.

In Georgia, for instance, some Republicans met and cast "electoral votes" for Trump, even though Biden won the state.

The problem is that they don't actually have valid votes to cast, because they're not actual electors.

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#Breaking Georgia Republicans are meeting at the Cap to select their own slate of Trump electors to send to Washington even as Georgia Democrats are meeting to send the official slate of Biden electors to Congress. pic.twitter.com/TJZGjcJS57

— Richard Elliot (@RElliotWSB) December 14, 2020

Biden won Wisconsin and his Electoral College slate is meeting now.

But the Republicans are also having their slate meet at the Capitol right now, even though there is no certification for Trump.

— Patrick Marley (@patrickdmarley) December 14, 2020

The real ones, whose votes actually count, were appointed based on the legal, certified results in each state.

"Don't be distracted by these preposterous mock electoral votes. They don't change how anything is going to unfold since congressional Republicans could've objected without them," says law professor Steve Vladeck.

'Alternative' electors denied entry in Michigan

Michigan was a state Joe Biden won by about 155,000 votes, but Donald Trump maintains he actually won.

Michigan held its real electoral college vote at the state Capitol, which was shut to the public due to security concerns.

But Republican "alternative" electors showed up a short time ago and requested entry to the building. The police stopped them, saying the actual electors had already signed in.

This footage comes from Detroit News reporter Riley Beggin.

They said that they were the Republican electors there to cast their vote for president. State police declined to let them enter the building or leave votes offered in a manila envelope pic.twitter.com/rNVIwc5ZXC

— Riley Beggin (@rbeggin) December 14, 2020

Pennsylvania Republicans justify 'alternative' vote

The Pennsylvania Republican Party has released a statement on its "alternative" electoral college vote.

"At the request of the Trump campaign, the Republican presidential electors met today in Harrisburg to cast a conditional vote for Donald Trump," it says.

"We took this procedural vote to preserve any legal claims that may be presented going forward," the Trump campaign's Pennsylvania chair, Bernie Comfort, added.

"This was in no way an effort to usurp or contest the will of the Pennsylvania voters."

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Reuters' crime and justice reporter Brad Heath points out the Trump campaign doesn't have any remaining legal claims in Pennsylvania and there are no signs that any new ones are forthcoming.

Pennsylvania GOP had their own slate of electors vote today "to preserve any legal claims that may be presented going forward." There ... aren't any.

Trump's lawyers said weeks ago they would take a PA case they lost to the Supreme Court, but they still haven't filed the papers. https://t.co/vSVvU7m9G1

— Brad Heath (@bradheath) December 14, 2020

The campaign's biggest lawsuit in the state, which Rudy Giuliani argued in court himself, got rejected by a panel of conservative judges from the Third District Court of Appeals late last month.

Giuliani and his colleague Jenna Ellis both indicated they would appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court, but it has been more than two weeks now and they still haven't got around to it.

What happens next

Once today's electoral college vote is finished there are two basic steps left in the process.

First, on January 6, Congress will formally count the electoral votes that have been cast today.

That will give Republican politicians a chance to object, but as Democrats control a majority in the House of Representatives, there ultimately isn't much they can do beyond making some noise.

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Miller's hope is that today's "alternate" electoral votes will give congressional Republicans something to talk about.

Prof Vladeck's point is there was nothing stopping them from raising objections anyway. So, the whole thing seems rather pointless.

After Congress counts the votes, on January 20, Biden's inauguration will take place and he will become the new president.

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