OPINION

BRENDA BLAGG: Not Congress' job

Cotton says Constitution leaves no room to ignore vote

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton's refusal to sign onto an ill-advised plan to challenge the Electoral College vote drew instant ire from President Donald Trump.

Arkansas' junior senator sorely disappointed the president when Cotton, long a Trump ally, announced his intent to support certifying the vote that will elect Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as president and vice president.

"How can you certify an election when the numbers being certified are verifiably WRONG," Trump tweeted, wrongly asserting voter fraud while aiming part of his post directly at Cotton: "@SenTomCotton Republicans have pluses & minuses, but one thing is sure, THEY NEVER FORGET!"

The politically threatening tone of the tweet was intentional, aimed not only at Cotton but also anyone else Trump might perceive as defecting from his camp.

Cotton did not reveal his position until late Sunday, although a dozen Trump-faithful Republican senators had already signed onto this plan to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election. At least one more has since joined.

Most observers expect the effort to fail, although it will extend debate when the House and Senate convene in joint session today to count the Electoral College votes.

Cotton said in a statement that he had concerns about irregularities in the presidential election and was disappointed with the results. He supports creation of a commission to study the last election and propose election reforms.

Thankfully, Cotton didn't stop there.

"The Founders entrusted our elections chiefly to the states -- not Congress. They entrusted the election of our president to the people, acting through the Electoral College -- not Congress. And they entrusted the adjudication of election disputes to the courts -- not Congress," wrote Cotton.

"Under the Constitution and federal law, Congress's power is limited to counting electoral votes submitted by the states."

That's a simply stated reading of the Constitution, which ought to be accepted by all of those who swore to uphold it.

It won't be, if the senators and representatives pledged to disrupt today's session follow through on their plans.

At this writing, only one member of Arkansas' delegation says he will object to the vote certification.

On Monday, 1st District Rep. Rick Crawford said he will join more than 140 Republican members of the House who are seeking to delay the electoral vote count. He doesn't expect the effort to succeed but wants a commission named to re-examine the election.

Credit most of the delegation with doing the right thing, accepting that Biden and Harris won the electoral vote and pledging to do their duty to certify it.

Arkansas' senior senator, John Boozman, and two of the state's House members, the 2nd District's Rep. French Hill and the 3rd District's Rep. Steve Womack, all declared they would follow the will of the Electoral College after electors cast their votes in December.

The only other member of the state's congressional delegation, 4th District Rep. Bruce Westerman, has not announced his plans.

Maybe he'll do the right thing. Maybe he won't.

How each member of the delegation votes does matter. Sen. Cotton just has the higher profile because of his own political aspirations and Trump's usual favor toward him.

Cotton and several other presidential wannabes have been courting Trump's support all through his term. The politically expedient choice for them all might have been to play along with this fool-hardy exercise to make Trump and his followers happy.

Some of the presidential wannabes will indeed do Trump's bidding on this vote, which is why Cotton's choice to respect the Electoral College decision -- and risk Trump's derision -- was a welcome surprise.

Brenda Blagg is a freelance columnist and longtime journalist in Northwest Arkansas. Email her at [email protected].

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