Congress splits up to debate Pennsylvania vote count

Sen. Josh Hawley rises to join House Republican members to object to confirming the Electoral College votes from Pennsylvania during a joint session of the House and Senate to confirm the Electoral College votes cast in November's election, at the Capitol, Jan 7, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Sen. Josh Hawley rises to join House Republican members to object to confirming the Electoral College votes from Pennsylvania during a joint session of the House and Senate to confirm the Electoral College votes cast in November's election, at the Capitol, Jan 7, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri object to the counting of Pennsylvania’s electoral votes, triggering up to two hours of debate in the House and Senate.

The objections come 11 hours after the congressional count to confirm Democrat Joe Biden’s US presidential victory began, and after lawmakers had to evacuate both chambers for several hours to escape a mob that had violently breached the Capitol.

Hawley said last week that he would object to Pennsylvania’s electoral votes, saying Congress should investigate voter fraud. US President Donald Trump has falsely said since his defeat that there was widespread fraud in the election.

Biden won Pennsylvania by just over 80,000 votes. Since the Nov. 3 election, Trump and his allies filed at least a half-dozen lawsuits challenging Biden’s win on various grounds, including that many or all of the state’s mail-in ballots were illegal.

The lawsuits failed as judge after judge found no violation of state law or constitutional rights, or no grounds to grant an immediate halt to certifying the election.

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