ANNAPOLIS, MD— Maryland Governor Larry Hogan strongly condemned plans by some Republican senators to reject the certification of the Presidential election results.

“Throughout my lifetime, American democracy has been a beacon of light across the world. Freedom-loving people have marveled at America because the people—not the politicians—elect the president, and the politicians respect the result,” Hogan said in statement.

Senators Cruz, Johnson, Lankford, Daines, Kennedy, Blackburn, Braun, and Senators-Elect Lummis, Marshall, Hagerty, and Tuberville issued a joint statement on January 2 saying they plan to contest the planned January 6 certification due to alleged voter fraud.

“The election of 2020, like the election of 2016, was hard fought and, in many swing states, narrowly decided. The 2020 election, however, featured unprecedented allegations of voter fraud, violations and lax enforcement of election law, and other voting irregularities.”

Hogan called the their plan “a scheme” and said it made a “mockery” of our system. “President Trump and his team have had every opportunity to provide evidence supporting their claims, and they have failed to do so. Their allegations have been flatly rejected by Trump-appointed judges and a Trump-appointed Justice Department alike.”

Senator Mitt Romney also hit out at the plan. ““My fellow Senator Ted Cruz and the co-signers of his statement argue that rejection of electors or an election audit directed by Congress would restore trust in the election. Nonsense. This argument ignores the widely perceived reality that Congress is an overwhelmingly partisan body; the American people wisely place greater trust in the federal courts where judges serve for life. Members of Congress who would substitute their own partisan judgement for that of the courts do not enhance public trust, they imperil it.”

Governor Hogan, who cast a write-in vote for Ronald Regan rather than vote for President Trump in the November election said the result of an election should have no bearing on the support of the process. ““Whether or not you like the result, the process worked as it always has. What’s not working is that far too many politicians in Washington seem to have forgotten the basic principle that they are beholden to the people, not the other way around.”