Some claim Vice President Mike Pence has the power to 'decertify' election results that the Electoral College brings forward. So let's look at the VP's official role in this process.
The
Constitution doesn't grant the vice president any such power that Trump
labeled. Instead, it's up to the House and Senate to voice any objections,
which will take place on January 6 around 1 p.m. And each of those state
electors was chosen in accordance with state law, not fraudulently.
Instead,
the Constitution shows Pence's role is more formal, monitoring the session that
will take place.
However,
on Tuesday, Mr Trump falsely suggested that Mr Pence could use the occasion to
nullify the result. “The vice-president has the power to reject fraudulently
chosen electors,” Mr Trump wrote on Twitter.
The 12th Amendment of the Constitution lays it out:
“The
president of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of
Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be
counted,” it reads.
So Pence
will oversee the joint session of Congress, opening each of the certificates of
each state's electoral votes and then presenting those to already appointed
House and Senate "tellers" in alphabetical order.
"The
person having the greatest number of votes shall be president," the
amendment continues.
After
presenting them to all of the tellers, who count the votes, Pence then will
announce who officially won.
Our Verify
researchers also read through the federal statute about counting electoral
votes, and nowhere does it say that if an objection succeeds, the opponent
would get the votes.