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January 6, 2021. The day Congress will count the electoral votes.
But it's also the day die-hard Trumpsters in Congress will have to make a choice: Will they object to various states' votes & thereby make their fellow Repubs *vote* whether or not Trump lost fair & square.
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But it's also the day die-hard Trumpsters in Congress will have to make a choice: Will they object to various states' votes & thereby make their fellow Repubs *vote* whether or not Trump lost fair & square.
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Here's how it works: After the electoral votes are counted by bipartisan House & Senate "tellers", the results are read alphabetically, state-by-state. As each is read, an objection may be made – which must be in writing *and* signed by at least 1 representative & 1 senator.
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After the 2016 election, as the electoral vote results were being read on Jan 6 2017, six Dem House members made objections, but since none of the objections was also signed by a senator, each was ruled out of order and the reading of the results state-by-state continued.
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But if an objection is signed by at least 1 member from each House? The joint session of Congress pauses to allow the House and Senate to decide independently whether to sustain the objection.
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What sort of objection? Under 3 USC 17, the objection would be that the electoral votes of the particular state were not "regularly given". What does "regularly given" mean? In short, it means whatever each member of Congress by his or her own judgement decides it means.
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At this point I shall assume that any such objections would be rejected by the Dem-majority House. I shall also assume (right or wrong) the Repub-majority Senate would also reject them.
So then, what's the big deal?
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So then, what's the big deal?
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The big deal is this: House & Senate Repubs would be forced to go on the record* by voting (in effect) either they are with Trump and his claims the election was stolen from him... or they're not.
(* – unless they wimp out by not voting or voting "Present"
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(* – unless they wimp out by not voting or voting "Present"
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Seems 100% at least 1 House Repub will make at least one objection. Now, as noted, if no senator co-signs it then those troublesome recorded votes won't happen. Still, if no senator co-signs it, that would mean Senate Trumpsters would be leaving a House Trumpster hanging. 
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And as we know, Trump's base treats a refusal to act about as harshly as a "wrong" act. So I'm thinking it's likely that at least 1 House Trumpster objector will be able to secure at least 1 Senate co-signer...
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... which would mean then we'd finally get to see how many House and Senate Repubs are willing to formally affirm or reject Trump's claims of election thievery. To make that binary choice, Yea or Nay.*
(* – again, unless they wimp out by skipping out or by voting "Present")
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(* – again, unless they wimp out by skipping out or by voting "Present")
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