THREAD: ELECTORAL COUNT ACT DAY.

Usually no one pays attention to Jan. 6 after a presidential election. But today the world is watching. Follow along, if you dare, as we watch Congress. We know the outcome: Joe Biden's win will be official. But it could be bumpy. 1/

What normally happens? A fairly boring, routine joint meeting of the Senate and House in which they open the electoral college votes from each state, in alphabetical order. Senators and House members can object, but it's usually not drawn out. 2/

The vice president presides as the the president of the Senate. There are two "tellers" from each House. The process goes through all 50 states and DC, and the winner is announced. All routine. Even Al Gore presided to announce his own loss in Jan 2001. 3/

But today, a few rogue Republicans plan to muck up the process to object to several states' votes. Not because they have any evidence of any problems--there isn't any. They are lying just because their preferred candidate lost. This is anti-democracy conduct. 4/

As @derektmuller explains in @nytimes, Dems objected to EC votes in 2001, 2005, and 2016. It takes an objection from a member of both Houses to move to a two hour debate. That happened in 2005. Big difference in context: the pres candidate had conceded. 5/