'Count The Votes': Colorado GOP Congressman Ken Buck Opposes Effort To Object To Electoral College Results
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (CBS4) – For one of the first times since the late 1800s, members of Congress are attempting to alter the outcome of the general election by objecting to the Electoral College results. Colorado Representatives Lauren Boebert and Doug Lamborn are among the small handful of Republicans in Congress who have confirmed their intent to object to the results, citing concerns of alleged voter fraud.
Other local Republicans, like Rep. Ken Buck, have vocalized their opposition to the efforts by their peers.
"(Certifying the results) is Congress' job. It is not to second guess the state Legislatures. It is not to second guess the secretary of state or governor's signature on those ballots," Buck said. "It is simply to count votes."
"I do not agree with the way that some of these states behaved and I will do everything to object to those states" Boebert said.
Colorado State University Associate Professor of Political Sciences Matthew Hitt said the efforts by some of President Donald Trump's most loyal supporters are unprecedented.
"For the first time since 2005, and in the most serious way perhaps since the 19th century, some members of Congress are objecting to the certification of this Electoral College," Hitt told CBS4's Dillon Thomas.
Hitt said the "Electoral Count Act of 1887" was created to prevent actions like we have seen during the 2020 election from causing greater impact on the presidency. The last major attempt to object to the results took place in the 1870s when Rutherford B. Hayes won the election.
"In the election of 1876 there were disputes of who won and voter intimidation. (It was) a really nasty election," Hitt said.
While some Republicans, fueled by Trump, have also raised similar concerns as of late, clear evidence of voter fraud or intimidation to levels which would impact the results have not been discovered or provided.
"There are now millions of voters who now believe there was an unfair election. I believe our job has to be to go in and do what the Constitution tells us. To count the votes and render that," Buck said.
Hitt said the efforts by some to secure Trump a second consecutive term will fall significantly short.
"There is no legal pathway," Hitt said.
The only way to make their effort successful would be for both chambers of Congress to agree on a written objection. However, with Democrats in control of one of those chambers, that is unlikely to happen.
"It is extraordinarily microscopically unlikely that anything could happen tomorrow that will change the outcome of this election," Hitt said.