2017

Democrats didn’t have much of a mechanism to block Trump, only to make his ceremony marginally embarrassing for a brief period of time. The relevant code allows members to object to the veracity of an individual state’s electoral vote tally if they can present an objection, in writing, and signed by one member of Congress and one senator. If done successfully, then the Senate and the House withdraw and make a decision about the objection. (In other words, they reject it.)

Senate President Joe Biden oversaw the proceedings. On the Democratic side of the aisle, a half-dozen or so members, including Reps. Maxine Waters, Sheila Jackson Lee, Raúl Grijalva and freshman Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Jamie Raskin, switched seats to take turns raising objections. The objections varied from state to state. In North Carolina the objections hinged on the state’s effective disenfranchisement of black voters. But most objections referenced Russia’s interference in the election.

...before admitting that they did not have the signature of a senator. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was sitting across the aisle from where the Democrats were protesting, and urged them to keep going; she applauded after one member raised the issue of Russian interference. Members’ mics were cut off as soon as their objections were denied.

Near the end, Rep. Waters straight-up asked, “Is there one United States senator who will join me? Just one?” There was not. Pelosi, at one point, moved over to where Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin was sitting to discuss something. If it was an effort to get Durbin, or some other senator, to co-sign an objection, it failed.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2017/01/democrats-disrupt-trumps-electoral-college-certification.html