The Michigan legislature was closed due to safety concerns, and the legislature stripped Republican state Representative Gary Eisen of his committee posts Monday after the lawmaker said he was going to be part of a potentially violent protest seeking to overturn the states Electoral College vote.
I know this isnt the outcome some want. It isnt what I want, either, Republican Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield said in a statement supporting the Electoral College vote for Biden. But we have a republic if we can keep it. And I intend to.
When U.S. voters mark ballots in a presidential race, theyre actually voting for a candidates slate of electors who cast that states electoral votes one vote for each U.S. representative and senator. The candidate who gets a majority of the 538 electoral votes, or 270, wins the presidency.
Biden won 306 electoral votes from the 25 states and the District of Columbia he carried, and electors, who are generally selected by their political parties, are essentially committed to vote for the winner of the popular vote in their state. Trump captured 232 electoral votes from the 25 states he won.
There still could be some drama when Congress meets on Jan. 6 to tally the vote with Vice President Mike Pence presiding, if a member of the House and the Senate object to a states slate of electors. That would require each chamber to debate and vote on the objection.
Republican Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama has said he plans to make an objection, but so far no senator has emerged to join him. Seventy-five Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania also sent a Dec. 4 letter to the states congressional delegation urging them to object.
Any objection that reached a vote is likely to fail with Democrats controlling the House and enough Republican senators acknowledging Bidens victory, said Nathaniel Persily, a Stanford University law professor and election-law expert.
But Mondays meeting of electors is the last step for anyone waiting for the process to play out, Persily said.
That constitutionally would be end of the road, he said.
With files from Reuters
