The procedural votes come as all 50 states and the District of Columbia finalize their Electoral College votes. As of press time, Democratic nominees former vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris have received over 270 electoral votes. (Related: House Republicans want Trump to keep fighting against election fraud.)
The Pennsylvania Republican Party cited the 1960 presidential election between former presidents John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon as their precedent. Nixon, who lost that election but would become president eight years later, was initially declared the winner in Hawaii by less than 200 votes, which triggered an automatic recount.
While the recount was ongoing and the Democratic Party still had pending legal challenges, they chose electors to cast a conditional vote for Kennedy so that they could "preserve their intent in the event of future favorable legal outcomes."
After a recount, Kennedy would end up being declared the winner of Hawaii by a razor-thin margin of 115 votes.
https://twitter.com/PAGOP/status/1338550681758740480
Accordingly, the Republican electors from Pennsylvania cast their procedural votes on the understanding that these votes will become the official votes for the state "as a result of a final non-appealable Court Order."
"We took this procedural vote to preserve any legal claims that may be presented going forward," said Bernie Comfort, Pennsylvania chairman for the Trump campaign.
"This was in no way an effort to usurp or contest the will of the Pennsylvania voters," he added.
Listen to this breaking news Situation Update episode of the Health Ranger Report, a podcast by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, as he talks about how the calls for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act are growing, and that the window of opportunity when he can do this – between Dec. 18 to 24 – is fast approaching.
State GOP in four other battleground states appoint alternate electors
Roughly around the same time that the Pennsylvania electors cast procedural votes for Trump, the Republican parties in Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Arizona conducted similar actions to contest their Electoral College votes.
https://twitter.com/AZGOP/status/1338592046043447296
The Arizona Republican Party chose their own electors just as the state legislature certified the 11 Democratic electors that would be casting their vote for Biden, citing the numerous legal battles going on in the state and other parts of the country.
"With ongoing legal challenges to the 2020 presidential election still being heard in the courts, and state legislatures across the country holding hearings on election fraud and voting irregularities, it is imperative that the proper electors are counted by Congress," they said in a press release posted by the state party's social media accounts.
In Nevada, the state's branch of the Republican Party said, "History was made today in Carson City, Nevada, as [Michael J. McDonald, state chairman of the Nevada GOP], leads our electors in casting Nevada's six electoral votes for the winner of Nevada."
https://twitter.com/myhlee/status/1338537446838071304
In Georgia, the 16 electors chosen by the state's Republican party declared that "the contest of the election is ongoing." According to Georgia GOP Chairman David Shafer, they cast their votes because Trump's election protest in the state is still pending.
"Had we not met today and cast our votes," said Shafer, "the President's pending election contest would have been effectively mooted. Our action today preserves his rights under Georgia law."
In Michigan, two separate slates made up of 16 electors each cast votes for Biden and Trump respectively.
"Sending more than one slate of electors is not unheard of," argued Meshawn Maddock, one of Michigan's at-large Republican electors. "It is our duty to the people of Michigan and to the U.S. Constitution to send another slate of electors if the election is in controversy or dispute – and clearly, it is."
White House adviser Stephen Miller went on Fox News on Monday to talk about the alternate groups of electors that were chosen in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan, Georgia and Arizona. He argued that their votes could swing the election in favor of Trump.
"The only date in the Constitution is Jan. 20," he argued. "So, we have more than enough time to right the wrong of this fraudulent election result and certify Donald Trump as the winner of the election."
"As we speak today," he added, "an alternate slate of electors in the contested states is going to vote, and we're going to send those results up to Congress."
All 50 states and the District of Columbia certified their Electoral College votes on Dec. 14. According to the U.S. Code, when the House and the Senate meet in January, they have to take into account every single certificate and paper that is "purporting to be certificates of the electoral votes." This means they have to consider the election of the Republican electors.
Several Republican legislators have already said that they would attempt to object to the counting of the Electoral College votes for at least some of the battleground states due to the ongoing legal battles there. They hope that this will trigger some debate in Congress, which could lead to the ratification of GOP electors.
Learn more about Trump's ongoing legal battles and the attempts made by Republicans to overturn the fraudulent election results in the Electoral College by reading the latest articles at VoteFraud.news.
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