State Rep. Tommy Hanes, R-Bryant, said Tuesday he is in support of Congressman Mo Brooks’s efforts to challenge the results of the Electoral College on the basis of voter fraud — allegations that have not been substantiated or proven.
“Congressman Brooks is taking a patriotic stand to ensure the electoral integrity of our great nation is upheld, and we should all stand with him,” Hanes.
Hanes justified his position by pointing to the lack of voter ID laws in blue states.
“The socialists have waged war on the American electoral system. They have effectively disenfranchised law-abiding American citizens by making it easier for illegal aliens to partake in our elections,” Hanes said.
There is no evidence that undocumented immigrants or other non-citizens voted in this election.
“Foreign nationals have no business telling Americans who their elected officials will be,” Hanes said. “It is a blatant attack on our constitution. This is the real foreign interference.”
Hanes is seeking additional support from fellow Alabama legislators as well as the public, urging them to stand with Brooks.
“Congressman Brooks has made it clear that he will not surrender to the radical left. I’m proud to support his fight, and I’m hopeful that those in this state who revere the constitution and rule of law will do so as well,” Hanes said.
Hanes concluded by urging state elected officials to take a stand for President Donald Trump, who officially lost the election when the Electoral College voted 306 to 232 in favor of President-elect Joe Biden.
“The president has always put this great nation first in the face of anti-American opposition from the media and the left-wing mob,” Hanes said. “We must do what is right as it is now time for us to fight for him.”
Hanes is a retired firefighter and sitting two-term North Alabama legislator representing House District 23, which encompasses Jackson County and part of DeKalb County.
On Jan. 6, when Congress meets to certify the vote by the Electoral College, Brooks intends to challenge the certification of the election results from at least four states: Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan — some of the states that shifted the electoral map toward Biden.
If a senator seconds Brooks’s motion, then both chambers of Congress would meet separately to consider Brooks’s objection. This has happened before in 1969 and 2005, and both times, the two bodies dismissed the objection and the election results were certified.
Brooks hopes that the vote is not certified and that the House of Representatives will then elect Trump to a second term. That outcome is very unlikely and Brooks’s effort will fall short as previous objections by Democrats in 2017, 2005 and 2001 similarly failed.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, on Tuesday congratulated Biden on his victory on the floor of the Senate. The powerful Senate majority leader is reportedly urging his fellow GOP Senators not to join Brooks’s effort.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia, said that it was the “explicit feeling” of Senate GOP leadership that it was time to accept the results of the Electoral College, which formally certified Biden’s win on Monday, and move on.
“I think you know that the Electoral College made the definitive vote obviously … and it’s timely for Senator McConnell to move forward,” Capito said. “Let’s turn the page and start a new administration and thank the previous one.”
To this point, there is no evidence that there was sufficient voter fraud to have affected the outcome of the election. The lack of hard evidence is why more than 30 lawsuits by the Trump team seeking to block certification of the vote have been dismissed or rejected.
