not sure if this legal analysis was posted before..
Who Counts the Votes of the Presidential Electors?
VPOTUS does. In fact, it's how Franklin assured his own election.
to further hook your full read:
"Vasan Kesavan, in “Is the Electoral Count Act Unconstitutional?” (80 NC L. Rev. 2001-2002), records another example where the President of the Senate unilaterally determined the winner of the Presidential Election:
In the election of 1856, the five electors of the State of Wisconsin did not cast their votes on the day prescribed by federal law because of a snowstorm. The President of the Senate counted Wisconsin's electoral votes over the objections of both Representatives and Senators assembled in convention. When Representative Lechter objected to Wisconsin's electoral votes and moved to exclude them, the presiding officer (the President of the Senate) simply stated that no debate was in order when the votes were being read by the tellers or even after they were finished.' When Senator Crittenden then asked the presiding officer, "Do I understand the Chair to decide that Congress, in no form, has power to decide upon the validity or invalidity of a vote?,"' the presiding officer replied that it was his constitutional duty to announce the result of the electoral count and that "[w]hat further action may be taken, if any further action should be taken, will devolve upon the properly-constituted authorities of the country, the Senate or House of Representatives, as the case may be.'… Several Members of Congress were concerned that the decision to count Wisconsin's electoral votes would set a dangerous precedent. According to Senator Pugh, unlike the Missouri Incident which was "never likely to happen again," the Wisconsin Incident "may occur one hundred times again, if the Government should stand that many years.' Almost every Member of Congress who spoke on the subject agreed that the votes of Wisconsin should not have been counted.' (emphasis added)
And yet the votes were counted… because the President of the Senate opened and counted them. The President of the Senate’s choice was more powerful than the collective will of Congress.
Come January 2021, Vice President Mike Pence will be presented with the sealed certificates containing the ballots of the presidential electors. At that moment, the Presidency will be in his hands."
https://macris.substack.com/p/who-counts-the-votes-of-the-presidential