Congressional Record/Volume 167/Issue 4/House/Counting Electoral Votes/Pennsylvania Objection Debate/Harris Speech
Mr. Harris. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
The oath I took is very simple. Madam Speaker, you administered it. It is to support and defend the Constitution.
Now, as you walk back to the office buildings, you will walk by that wall that has when the various States accepted that Constitution. Remember, when a State accepts the Constitution, it agrees to accept every part of the Constitution. It doesn’t get to pick and choose.
Pennsylvania was there when it was written. They were so enthusiastic about the Constitution, they approved it in 1787.
My State, Maryland, is a little further down the wall, 1788. They were there when it was written.
The clause that gave the legislature the power over the elections was there when they accepted it. It has been there since. How dare the judicial branch or the executive branch of that State usurp the legislative authority. That is a clear violation of the Constitution.
Now, we heard there is no evidence.
Evidence?
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court unilaterally extended the deadline to receive absentee and mail-in ballots.
Does anybody contest that over here? Does it say the legislature did that?
No, it doesn’t. It says the court did it.
That is a violation. That is what the Texas lawsuit was all about. We disadvantage other States when States like Pennsylvania, the executive branch and judicial branch, cheat on the Constitution; and that is what they did here.
But there is more evidence. But wait, there is more. The Democrat secretary of the Commonwealth eroded integrity by dismissing signature authentication on a ballot.
Does anyone here believe the Pennsylvania legislature would have agreed to create a separate system for mail-in ballots and in-person ballots? That if you mail it in, you don’t need a signature? But if you vote in person, you do and it has to be authenticated?
Of course not. The legislature clearly wouldn’t have agreed to that. But that didn’t stop the usurpation of constitutional authority.
Madam Chair, I vigorously support this objection, and I include in the Record the objection to counting the electoral votes for the State of Arizona additional signers.
Objection to Counting the Electoral Votes for the State of Arizona
ADDITIONAL SIGNERS
- Jeff Duncan SC–3
- Matt Gaetz FL–1