History forced Al Gore into an awkward moment of irony two months after he lost the 2000 presidential election. He had to preside over the joint session of Congress that officially sealed his political fate — and to rebuff several attempts by fellow Democrats to give him a victory.
“The objection may not be received,” Gore said bluntly and repeatedly during the normally routine counting of Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2001. Federal law demanded that he rule that way, and the joint session eventually confirmed the results of Election Day: George W. Bush defeated Gore by 271–266 electoral votes, the third-closest margin in presidential history.
A similar scenario is expected to materialize next month when Vice President Mike Pence presides over the mandatory vote tally for the 2020 presidential election. It would be the fourth time this century — and only the fifth since the current vote-counting process was enacted in 1887 — that members of Congress have objected to the results of a presidential election.
Democrats picked all four of the previous fights.
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