US Reps. Biggs, Gosar of Arizona will object to Electoral College votes

PHOENIX – Arizona congressmen Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar said they will object to Wednesday’s congressional count of electoral votes, as President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers continue to challenge the 2020 election results.

Biggs and Gosar will be among dozens of House members and about a dozen senators officially lodging protests. They support Trump’s claim that widespread fraud helped propel Democrat Joe Biden to the White House victory.

“I don’t think you’re going to get a redo of the election, but there is, what I would call, questions to the election integrity, not just in Arizona but in five additional states,” Biggs told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Monday.

“We’d like to get to the bottom of this – was our election good in Arizona or was it not?” he said.

Gosar tweeted his decision Sunday.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the state’s top elections official and a Democrat, said the Republican congressmen haven’t raised their concerns with her.

“None of those folks, Biggs, Gosar, anyone else, has reached out specifically to my office to actually address real concerns that they might have, which really tells me that they’re not interested in a productive conversation,” she told KTAR News on Monday.

Under federal law, Congress must meet Jan. 6 to open sealed certificates from each state that contain a record of their electoral votes.

Bipartisan representatives of both chambers read the results out loud and do an official count. The president of the Senate, Vice President Mike Pence, presides over the session and declares the winner.

If there is a tie, then the House decides the presidency, with each congressional delegation having one vote. That hasn’t happened since the 1800s. Biden’s won the electoral vote, 306-232.

Biggs said there too any questions about irregularities in Arizona’s votes.

“That’s why the Senate Judiciary Committee in Arizona said, ‘look, we want to subpoena these machines. Let’s have a gander.’ That’s all they want to do and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has prohibited that from happening,” he said.

An Arizona judge ruled Dec. 23 that Maricopa County didn’t have to comply with a state Senate subpoena seeking access to voting machines and other election-related materials.

Superior Court Judge Randall Warner said Senate President Karen Fann and Sen. Eddie Farnsworth did not follow the appropriate procedures to enforce a legislative subpoena, but he invited them to refile their case.

The matter will be dismissed Feb. 1 unless an update is filed, the ruling said.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Taylor Kinnerup and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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