VP Pence Cannot Throw Out Electors
The Claim
Vice President Mike Pence has the power to throw out electoral votes when Congress meets to certify election results.
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Emerging story
In January 2021, President Trump tweeted that Mike Pence has the authority to reject fraudulent electors.
Many users across social media were quick to refute the President’s claim.
Other social media users seemed to agree with the President.
Misbar’s Analysis
The Misbar team has determined that the claim is false. First, there is nothing in the Constitution or the law that allows the vice president the power to throw out electors. Despite Joe Biden being elected President in the 2020 election, the electoral votes still need to be certified by Congress, which is overseen by the vice president.
The 12th amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that, “The president of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted.”
Envelopes with the certified votes from the Electoral College are brought to the Capitol where a joint session is held, in which the vice president presides. The certificates are then examined to determine if they are authentic, at which point they are tallied. The amendment then states, “the person having the greatest number of votes shall be the president.”
The Electoral Count Act of 1887 says that it is up to Congress to settle any disagreements about state certifications.
If at least one member of the House and Senate raise an objection about a state’s results, it must be debated, stopping the joint session so that members can return to their chambers and debate the challenge for up to two hours. A simple majority vote is then held to determine whether to throw out the state’s results.
If enough electors were invalidated to prevent Biden from reaching the required 270 vote threshold to become president, the election would be thrown to the House, where each state gets a single vote. While that scenario is unlikely, it is not up to Mike Pence to decide. The vice president’s role is simply to tally the votes. As such, we rate the claim as false.
