Republican Lawmakers from Michigan have told President Trump that they will still stick to the states’ election laws of awarding the state’s electors to the candidate that won the popular votes.
This follows a meeting they had with Trump where the president persuaded them to award him the state’s electors despite losing the state to Biden with 154,000 vote margin. Critics have accused the U.S. President Donald Trump for trying to leverage the power of the Oval Office to block President-elect Joe Biden’s victory as stating that his futile efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 election could do long-lasting damage to democratic traditions.
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Trump summoned a delegation of Republican lawmakers from Michigan, including the state’s Senate majority leader and House speaker, in an apparent extension of his efforts to persuade judges and election officials in the state to set aside Biden’s 154,000-vote margin of victory and grant him the state’s electors.
Those lawmakers later confirmed they will still follow election laws in their state and award the electors to the winner of the popular vote report says
In a joint statement after the White House meeting, Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and House Speaker Lee Chatfield said allegations of electoral fraud should be investigated, but indicated they were adamant by Trump’s claims thus far.
‘We have not yet been made aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election in Michigan, and as legislative leaders, we will follow the law and follow the normal process regarding Michigan’s electors, just as we have said throughout this election.’
‘The candidates who win the most votes win elections and Michigan’s electoral votes,’ they added, saying they used the meeting with Trump to press him for more pandemic aid money for their state.
Rick Hasen, an election law expert and professor who has been meticulously chronicling the 2020 race, wrote that there would be ‘rioting’ in the streets if an effort was made to set aside the vote in Michigan, calling it tantamount to an attempted coup.
‘We should worry because this is profoundly antidemocratic and is delegitimising the victory of Joe Biden in a free and fair election,’ Hasan wrote on his blog.
‘It is profoundly depressing we still have to discuss this. But it is extremely unlikely to lead to any different result for the president.’
The president on Friday again falsely claimed victory, declaring as an aside during a White House announcement on drug pricing, ‘I won, by the way, but you know, we’ll find that out.’
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
