Congressman Mike Rogers, R-Alabama, on Monday said he plans to vote against the results of the presidential election on Wednesday by objecting to Congress’s certification of the Electoral College votes, joining his Republican colleagues Rep. Mo Brooks, Rep. Robert Aderholt and Sen. Tommy Tuberville.
“There are far too many instances of alleged voter fraud that have called the legitimacy of the election results into question,” Rogers said in a statement Monday, despite there being no evidence that widespread fraud altered the outcome of the election. “In addition, election officials in certain states appeared to have deliberately acted in an unconstitutional manner to manipulate the results.”
Rogers joins a chorus of Republican lawmakers planning to object to the counting of electoral votes of several swing states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — that voted for President-elect Joe Biden.
“These allegations of election fraud must be thoroughly investigated before Congress can act. The results of a handful of states critical to both campaigns are in serious doubt. Our elections should be free, fair and transparent. The 2020 election was not. Therefore, I will object to the results of the Electoral College,” Rogers continued.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, has warned Republicans against objecting to the results when Congress votes to certify on Jan. 6, saying that it would force a roll call vote. Doing so would put Republicans at odds with President Donald Trump, who is pushing to remain in office despite losing the election by declaring the election results invalid over unsubstantiated allegations of fraud.
A Justice Department investigation under Trump’s now-former attorney general Bill Barr found no such rampant voter fraud in the November election, and dozens of legal challenges and lawsuits claiming as much have been dismissed.
In an hour-long call with Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Sunday, Trump urged Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes that would throw the state to Trump, according to The Washington Post, which obtained an audio recording of the call.
Raffensperger and his general counsel explained to Trump on that call that they investigated the results thoroughly and found no fraud, but Trump responded with disproven conspiracy theories and pressured the state official to interfere with the results of the election.
Brooks in an interview with Newsmax on Monday said Trump’s call with Raffensperger was a “distraction.”
“That phone call has nothing to do with whether in fact Georgia’s election results accurately reflect the lawful votes casts by eligible American citizens,” Brooks told Newsmax.
Biden won with 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232 — the same margin by which Trump won in 2016 — and won the popular vote over Trump by more than 7 million votes. Trump also lost the popular vote in 2016.
