Democrats are upset over plans by several Republican lawmakers intending to object to the Electoral College vote certification this week, but it’s a move Democrats have employed in the past.
The Daily Wire reports that “Democrats have objected to certifying Electoral College wins for the presidential contests of 2000, 2004, and 2016 — when Republicans, including President Donald Trump, won the elections.”
In 2004, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) joined Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) in objecting to President George W. Bush’s electoral win in Ohio, noting issues and discrepencies with voting machines among other irregularities.
During the Senate debate on the electoral challenge in January of 2005, none other than Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton took the floor.
“There is no reason at a time when we have enormous battles taking place ideologically all across the globe, at a time when we're trying to make certain that we encourage democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places throughout the world, that we have the legitimacy of our elections challenged, rightly or wrongly, by people who are not certain as to whether our processes are fair and just,” then-Senator Obama (D-IL) said.
“As we look at our election system, I think it's fair to say that there are many legitimate questions about its accuracy, about its integrity, and they're not confined to the state of Ohio,” then-Senator Clinton (D-NY) said.
“I would be standing here saying this no matter what the outcome of the election was. Because I still think the best rule in politics is the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” Clinton later added.
An estimated 140 Republicans reportedly plan on objecting to certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, including 100-plus members of the U.S. House of Representatives.