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The Lawfare Podcast

Counting the Electoral Votes

The Lawfare Podcast

The Lawfare Institute

History, News, National Security, Law, Terrorism, Current Events, Military, International Law, Foreign Policy, Intelligence, International Relations, Politics, Diplomacy, Rule Of Law, Government, Constitutional Law

4.76.4K Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2021

⏱️ 47 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It is electoral count voting day, and members of Congress in a joint session will open and count the electoral votes and declare Joe Biden and Kamala Harris the winners of the election. It will not be without controversy, however, as members from both houses plan to object, forcing debate, and as the Proud Boys descend on Washington. In anticipation of turmoil inside and outside of the Capitol, Benjamin Wittes sat down with Lawfare senior editor Scott Anderson, Brookings and Lawfare congressional guru Molly Reynolds, and law professor and election law specialist Ned Foley of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. They talked about what the rules are for counting electoral votes, how much latitude they have, what could really happen today and what role, if any, Mike Pence could play in the disposition of the final stage of the presidential election.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

The following podcast contains advertising to access an ad-free version of the LawFair

0:07.2

podcast become a material supporter of LawFair at patreon.com slash LawFair.

0:14.7

That's patreon.com slash LawFair.

0:18.2

Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, rational security, chatter, LawFair

0:25.6

no bull and the aftermath.

0:34.0

But there is no do-over to casting electoral votes.

0:37.6

It has to happen on the same day.

0:39.5

That uniformity requirement is written explicitly in the text of the Constitution and it was

0:44.4

significant to the resolution of our most disputed presidential election ever.

0:49.3

The haze tells an election of 1876.

0:52.5

So that's part of the constitutional demarcation between the casting process versus the

0:58.5

counting process.

1:00.6

I'm Benjamin Wittess and this is the LawFair podcast January 6, 2021.

1:08.4

It is electoral count voting day.

1:11.9

The proud boys are descending on Washington and members of Congress in a joint session

1:17.9

will open and count the electoral votes and declare Joe Biden and Kamala Harris the winners

1:25.2

of the election.

1:26.6

It will not be without controversy however as members from both houses plan to object

1:33.7

forcing debate.

1:35.4

We're going to have turmoil in the capital and turmoil outside the capital and we have

1:40.8

a panel to talk about it.

1:43.2

We are joined in the virtual jungle studio by Scott Anderson, our senior editor Molly

...

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