Cruz, 10 GOP senators to oppose electoral votes 'unless and until' an 'emergency 10-day' audit

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) led a group of senators and senators-elect who issued a joint statement Saturday declaring they intend to reject presidential electors from battleground states during the Electoral College certification on Jan. 6 "unless and until" an emergency 10-day audit of election returns is completed.

In all, 11 senators signed the statements, joining Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who announced his plans to object last week.

President Trump and his allies have hurled allegations of widespread voter fraud since his November defeat. There's no evidence to back up the claims, and Trump's legal team, as well as other Republican groups, have had dozens of lawsuits rejected by courts at every level, including the Supreme Court.

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Still, Trump now has members of both the House and Senate willing to object to the Electoral College certification of President-elect Joe Biden's victory. Per Axios, if both a representative and a senator object to an individual state's results next week, the House and Senate will head to their chambers and vote on whether to uphold a challenge.

Although there's support for doing so in the Republican Party, the movement seems unlikely to garner enough in either chamber of Congress. The House has a Democratic majority and even if the GOP still holds the Senate by Jan. 6, several Republican senators have expressed opposition to attempts to overturn the Electoral College results, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Read more at Axios.