https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/senate-bill/1873

S.1873 - Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005

109th Congress (2005-2006)

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/109/s1873

We’re hitting pause.

“He commits to a peaceful transfer, as long as it’s a fair election.”

— Mark Meadows, chief of staff to President Trump and former representative, on the end of President Trump’s term as president. Sep 25, 2020

The United States Constitution does not say that elections must be fair. For most of the history of the United States, voting by Black people, indigenous people, women, and poor people was not legal. There were no direct elections for senators. People in territories acquired through war are neither represented in Congress nor permitted to vote for President — some are not considered U.S. citizens. Residents of the capital district are not represented in Congress even though it has final say over their laws. The principle of democracy that every vote matters equally is, of course, not fulfilled in the Electoral College or representation in the Senate, which were defined by an original compromise that endorsed slavery and transformed later by the politicization of the admission of states to the Union; politicization of the drawing of congressional districts has had a similar effect. Some of this wasn’t fair — but there has been peace. Some of this still isn’t fair — but it is the law.

This is a country of laws first, fairness second. We follow laws today and make them fair tomorrow. We persuade minds and activate voters to make a more perfect union through peace. There is no if.

On January 20, 2021 at noon, the current term of the President of the United States will end — fair or not. The next president will be chosen by elections administered by the states, electors chosen pursuant to state law, and a final count of electors performed by Congress as outlined in the Constitution — fair or not. The opportunity to make it fair will come again.

Our mission cannot be fulfilled when faithful execution of the law is replaced with an ultimatum for something that does not and has never existed. We have hit pause.