COLUMBIA, Mo. - Some Missouri Republican lawmakers are calling on Congress to reject presidential electoral votes from swing states that went for President-elect Joe Biden.
St. Charles Republican state Rep. Justin Hill on Thursday filed a nonbinding resolution questioning the results of this year's election which could cause the special session to be extended to include a resolution asking congress to investigate for potential fraud in six swing states. Hill's resolution would require a vote by House members if passed out of committee Monday night.
"People are quiet concerned about the integrity of not just our election in Missouri, but throughout the nation," Hill said. "I'm saying the state owes it to us to full investigation, a fair investigation, to the fullest extent and if they don't investigate, I'm calling on congress to not certify those electors."
President Donald Trump and his allies have lost dozens of times in courts across the country and have no evidence of widespread fraud. But Hill's proposal calls on state lawmakers in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada to investigate.
"If there is evidence of fraud in other states, we need to ask those states to fully investigate and make sure their elections are run the same way," Hill said. "I think they owe it to use and that's why I created the resolution."
A Missouri House committee is holding a public hearing on the resolution Monday. It's unclear if it will go before the full House.
Hill's resolution was co-signed by 66 of the 163 House members before being sent to the Speaker of the House Elijah Haahr, asking him to extend the current special session to consider the HR 2.
Haahr said Thursday he referred the resolution to the Committee of Government Oversight.
"There is going to be some discussion between the resolution sponsor and the governor's office that if they want this to go to the governor, he would need to issue a new call for him to consider it," Haahr said.
The House has not officially adjourned from the special session to address distributing CARES Act funding.
Hill's resolution was filed the same day Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt was at the White House for a luncheon with President Donald Trump and other Republican attorneys general. Schmitt's office filed an amicus brief Wednesday with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Texas Attorney General's suit with Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
House Minority Leader Crystal Quade is in opposition of the resolution and Schmitt's amicus brief. In a statement she said:
“By seeking to invalidate the lawful votes of other states in a ludicrous attempt to steal the presidential election for Donald Trump, the attorney general and 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. This is insanity on a fast track to dystopian nightmare.”
Hill said Missouri would be the first state calling for an investigation into these swing states.
"If we take up this resolution and pass it, it's an official statement from the Missouri House of Representatives sent to those states and to Congress on our position," Hill said. "
The resolution is set to be heard in the Special Committee on Government Oversight on Monday evening. If it passes out of the committee, Hill said he believes House members could vote on it as early as Tuesday. HR 2 would not have to be approved by the Senate Hill said because it's not a piece of legislation.
