Mid-Missouri Republicans support House resolution calling for vote investigations in battleground states
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Several Republican state House members who represent Mid-Missouri have signed a letter in support of a resolution calling on battleground states to investigate the Nov. 3 election.
Rep. Justin Hill, R-Lake St. Louis, filed the resolution Thursday after the House speaker extended the legislature's special session to Monday. The filing came after Hill wrote a letter urging the speaker to extend the session so the resolution could be debated.
The resolution expresses a lack of confidence in the presidential election in key states where the Republican Party and backers of President Donald Trump are challenging results: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Hill wrote to House Speaker Rob Vescovo on Wednesday saying the House must urge the battleground states' legislatures to meet in special session to investigate election results and potentially appoint new electors.
Each state's electors are expected to vote Monday. Democratic President-elect Joe Biden is expected to win 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232.
Hill's letter was written the same day the attorneys general of 17 states, including Missouri's Eric Schmitt, signed onto a legal brief backing the Texas attorney general's Supreme Court lawsuit against four battleground states. The lawsuit seeks to stop the certification of presidential electors in those four states, all of which Trump lost.
Reps. Sara Walsh, R-Ashland; Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport; Dave Muntzel, R-Boonville; Dave Griffith, R-Jefferson City; Cheri Toalson Reisch, R-Hallsville; and Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit, each signed Hill's letter to Vescovo.
The non-binding resolution has been referred to the House's Special Committee on Government Oversight. The committee is scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. Monday.
House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, said in a statement that "House Republicans have abandoned all pretense of support for and belief in democracy."
"Their actions cannot be dismissed as mere partisan scheming and are dangerous to the integrity of our entire system of government," Quade said. "This is insanity on a fast track to dystopian nightmare."
Quade said she was surprised by Vescovo's move to keep the special session going instead of ending it.
The Missouri House Democratic Caucus called the Supreme Court lawsuit "frivolous" in a statement in response to Hill's resolution.
