11 senators announce they will reject congressional election certification on Wednesday

A dozen U.S. senators have now pledged to dispute the scheduled congressional election certification set to take place on Wednesday, with a group of senators this weekend calling for an audit of the U.S. election out of concerns over voting integrity. 

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz posted an announcement on his Senate website stating that he and ten other senators "intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given' and ‘lawfully certified' (the statutory requisite), unless and until [an] emergency 10-day audit is completed."

The senators called upon an Electoral Commission to conduct that audit, after which "individual states would evaluate the Commission's findings and could convene a special legislative session to certify a change in their vote, if needed."

"These are matters worthy of the Congress, and entrusted to us to defend," the senators said in the statement. "We do not take this action lightly. We are acting not to thwart the democratic process, but rather to protect it."

The senators join Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, who earlier this week also pledged to contest the congressional certification of the 2020 election results.