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WHEN DEMOCRATS TRIED TO BLOCK THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE. The Electoral College voted on Monday to elect Joe Biden president. That is done. But there is one more step in the process. On January 6, Congress will officially ratify the Electoral College vote and declare Biden the president-elect. But now, there is talk that some House Republicans will try to disrupt the ceremony.
“Even after the Electoral College certified President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. as the winner of the election on Monday, some of President Trump’s staunchest allies in Congress refused to accept his loss,” the New York Times reported, “vowing that they could still reverse the results on the floor of the United States House of Representatives.” The left-wing magazine The Nation wrote, “Republicans will take their assault on democracy to Congress — and it will be awful.”
Even if some Republicans try it, it won’t work, and by the end of January 6, Congress will have certified the results. One reason we know that is because some House Democrats tried the same thing on January 6, 2017, when Congress met to ratify the results of the Electoral College vote finalizing Donald Trump’s victory. Back then, it wasn’t quite as controversial — no talk about an “assault on democracy.” And now, neither the New York Times nor The Nation even mentioned that it happened. But it did.
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The ceremony back in 2017 began when then-Vice President Joe Biden and members of the Senate went to the House chamber. The event called for the announcement of each state, followed by the announcement of the Electoral College results for that state. Things went off track at the very beginning, when the results from Alabama were read.
Rep. Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts, rose to protest. “I object to the certificate from the State of Alabama on the grounds that the electoral votes were not, under all of the known circumstances, regularly given, and that the electors were not lawfully certified, especially given the confirmed and illegal activities engaged in by the government of Russia that were designed to interfere with our election,” McGovern said.
According to the rules, McGovern’s protest could not go forward unless a member of the Senate joined him in challenging the results. Biden asked McGovern if he had a senator on his side. McGovern said no. “In that case, the objection cannot be entertained,” Biden concluded.
That was just the start. When the count got to Florida, Democrats again rose to object. They objected to the results from Georgia, too. Without a senator’s support, Biden ruled them out of order. Then came Michigan, and Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee rose to object, “because people are horrified by the overwhelming evidence of Russian interference in our elections.” Lee also cited the “malfunction of 87 voting machines” at predominantly African-American precincts. With no senator joining in, she was overruled.
It still wasn’t over. Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, rose to “object on the massive voter suppression that included counting ballots that were provisional that denied individuals access to polling places.” Rep. Barbara Lee rose again to object “on behalf of the millions of Americans, including members of the Intelligence Community, who are horrified by evidence that the Russians interfered in our election.” In all, there were five more interruptions before the process limped to a close and Trump’s electoral votes were ratified. A total of seven House Democrats took part in the effort, with others cheering them on.
Looking back on the day, former Rep. Jason Chaffetz recalled the demeanor of some of his Democratic colleagues: “They were mad, they were angry, they were self-righteous, and they were already convinced that something had been stolen from them.”
That is the forgotten history of the Electoral College and Donald Trump’s victory. (You can read about it in OBSESSSION, my account of the long effort to remove President Trump from office.) The Democratic effort went nowhere because House Democrats were unable to convince a senator to go along with them. Even if they had, they would have eventually failed, but it would have taken longer. By the way, Democrats also tried the same protest in 2005, after the re-election of President George W. Bush, and one Democratic senator, Barbara Boxer, took part in it.
Now, with one House Republican — Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama — planning to protest, there is talk about a historic “assault on democracy.” It won’t amount to much. It is unclear whether Brooks will persuade any senator to go along with him. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pressed his members not to participate in any protests, and one who had considered taking part, Sen. Ron Johnson, said he would not. At the moment, it seems unlikely that any senator will join Brooks, just as no senator joined the Democrats in 2017.
So when you hear some in the media talking about that “assault on democracy” and suggest that it is somehow unprecedented, just remember: It has happened before.
