Can Kamala Harris certify her own election results?

Kamala Harris must certify the results of the presidential election regardless of whether she wins or loses.

Her only task will be to officially announce the results of the elections.

According to the US Constitution, a vice president is automatically president of the United States Senate and it is the role of the President of the Senate to officially declare the results of a presidential election.

As the Senate website explains: “The Constitution appoints the Vice President of the United States as President of the Senate. In addition to serving as presiding officer, the vice president … formally presides over the receipt and counting of ballots cast in presidential elections. .”

The Wilson Center, which rates democratic institutions and good government, states on its website that the Senate president “is charged with counting the electoral votes for president and vice president and declaring the winners.”

This second role for the vice president has led to heated scenes in the past, with some politicians pleading with vice presidents not to announce the results of the presidential election.

On January 6, 2001, more than a dozen Democratic members showed up Congress Vice President pleaded Al Gore not to confirm his own defeat in the 2000 presidential election.

They submitted more than twenty objections. Gore rejected them all because the objectors were all members of the House of Representatives and needed at least one senator to agree to their objections.

It followed 36 days of unrest following the November 7, 2000, election, in which the outcome in Florida was hotly contested between Gore and the Republican candidate, George W Bush.

Most of those who objected to Gore’s certification were members of the Congressional Black Caucus and they walked out of the joint session of Congress on behalf of what Democratic congresswomen Sheila Jackson-Lee announced were “the millions of Americans living through Florida’s have been deprived of their right to vote. incorrect vote counting.”

Rejecting each of their objections, Gore asked, “Was the point of order signed by a senator?”

“I don’t care if it wasn’t signed by a senator,” Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters responded before walking out.

Gore told her, “You will be informed that the rules do matter,” he said.

Congressman Jesse L. Jackson Jr. told Gore: “It is a sad day in America if we cannot find a senator to sign these objections.” Los Angeles Times reported at the time.

The conflict and runaway were captured in Michael Moore’s documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11, one of the highest-grossing American documentaries of all time.

The importance of the vice president’s role in certifying the elections was also recognized then Donald Trump put pressure on his vice president, Mike Pencenot to certify the results of the 2020 election.

Pence believed it was his duty to certify Joe Biden‘s victory.

Trump criticized Biden in a Tweet message on January 6, 2021, as Trump protesters attempted to break into Congress to certify the election.

Trump was later charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction and attempted obstruction of an official proceeding; and anti-rights conspiracy related to an alleged pressure campaign on state officials to overturn the 2020 election results.

Trump has denied guilt on all charges against him and has repeatedly said he is the victim of a political witch hunt.

On July 1, the US Supreme Court ruled that Trump has immunity from prosecution for his communications with Pence while Pence was acting as vice president.

It also ruled that Trump has “presumptive immunity” from his efforts to stop Pence from certifying the election while Pence was acting as president of the Senate.