SOUTHEASTERN N.C. — Rep. David Rouzer announced Monday he will be voting against certifying the 2020 presidential election, according to a press release. He is advocating for the idea spearheaded by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex) to establish an electoral commission to perform a 10-day audit of the election results.
Rouzer was re-elected to a fourth term representing N.C.’s seventh district and is among at least six members of the N.C. delegation who signed onto a Texas lawsuit that sought to overturn the presidential election result. Nationally, more than 100 representatives latched onto that measure, which was later shot down by the Supreme Court. According to the News & Observer, at least four Republicans from N.C.’s Congressional delegation, Rouzer included, will vote against the election certification.
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“The American people need clarity that this election was fair and truly reflective of the will of the people,” Rouzer said in his press release. “Unfortunately, the electoral and judicial processes so far have not provided for a thorough vetting. Congress is the last forum for the arguments to be heard in the short-term.”
Rouzer has been a consistent supporter of the president throughout the election season and served as a Trump surrogate at campaign events. He continues to support President Donald Trump, who, in recent weeks, has been exhausting all potential avenues to hold power.
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Monday morning, Trump tweeted his discontent with Republican leaders who are accepting election results: “The ‘Surrender Caucus’ within the Republican Party will go down in infamy as weak and ineffective ‘guardians’ of our Nation, who were willing to accept the certification of fraudulent presidential numbers!”
Regarding Joe Biden, who leads Trump in the Electoral College vote 306-232, Rouzer told McClatchy in mid-November: “No, I don’t consider him to be President-elect until every legal vote is counted and every illegal ballot is tossed.”
By early December, Rouzer had softened his stance and told Port City Daily it seemed highly likely Biden would be inaugurated as President on Jan. 20.
“But at this point in time it looks likely that Vice President Biden will be the selection of the electors as of December 14 when they meet to vote,” Rouzer said in a previous interview. “But that could still change.”
Last month, Rouzer indicated the Supreme Court was likely Trump’s best chance at procuring an electoral override. With the president’s legal challenges to the election results failing to gain traction, Rouzer and other GOP legislators are signaling they intend to be Biden’s final hurdle before Inauguration Day.
“There are a lot of different stopgaps here that our founders put in place envisioning very tight, very contested elections,” Rouzer previously said. “And that’s part of why there’s so much time between Election Day and Inauguration Day. That’s the broader point.”
A spokesperson for Rouzer said the Congressman was not available to be interviewed for this story.
“Confidence in a presidential election has never been lower, with 39 percent of the country in a recent Reuters poll believing this election was ‘rigged,’” Rouzer said in the press release. “There are just too many aspects of concern, too many irregularities and clear violations of the U.S. Constitution by several of the states in question, which is why so many instinctively have little confidence that the presidential election was fair.”
UNCW political science professor Aaron King said the oversight process that followed the initial reporting of election results was intended to bolster the public’s confidence in presidential election results.
“Whether this is numerous court cases across numerous states, non-partisan people in administrative positions, state legislatures certifying the votes, electors meeting in different states: This is all a process to ensure confidence in the election,” King said. “The health of a democracy is incredibly challenged when you have what we have seen over the last several months, and even as recently as this weekend, with the pressure coming from President Trump to Georgia’s secretary of state, for example.”
King continued: “Whether this is successful or not, I think that’s beside the point, this is something that’s very unhealthy in a democracy. In a democracy, you need winners and you need losers. It is very important for people who have lost to move on.”
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