Congressional Record/Volume 167/Issue 4/House/Counting Electoral Votes/Pennsylvania Objection Debate/Herrell Speech
Ms. Herrell. Madam Speaker, this is not how I imagined my first speech in the House of Representatives or my first week to be in Washington.
The violence that occurred in this building yesterday is reprehensible and inexcusable. I am appalled by anyone who assaults our Nation’s law enforcement officers.
I swore an oath on Sunday to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. We are here today delayed, but not deterred, to debate a constitutional question and follow a constitutional process.
The Constitution gives State legislators, not State executives or judges, the sole authority to determine how their State selects Presidential electors.
Nobody disputes that in Pennsylvania, as well as in other States, rules and regulations were changed by executive fiat or judicial edict.
These changes were significant and irregular. They included changes to vote-by-mail deadlines, identity verification requirements, and other ballot handling practices.
In Pennsylvania specifically, the Democrat Secretary of the Commonwealth and the Democrat-controlled Pennsylvania Supreme Court usurped the constitutional authority of the State legislature.
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Together, they exceeded their authority by extending the deadline for absentee ballots and by waiving signature requirements for those ballots.
In their haste to make these changes, the secretary and the court created two different and unequal standards for voters. Pennsylvanians who chose to vote in person still had to have their signatures verified at their polling place, but those who chose to vote by mail did not. How is this process fair?
This objection is about Pennsylvania, but it affects every State. As a State Representative of New Mexico, Pennsylvania’s unconstitutional actions disenfranchised my constituents and the constituents of my colleagues. It is my duty to give my constituents a voice. Signing these objections raises their concerns to the fullest extent my office allows.
I, again, condemn in the strongest terms the violence that took place here yesterday. We have many issues to solve, including reforms to restore all Americans’ faith in the fairness of our elections. I look forward to those serious civil and peaceful debates.