Swearing in Brown

How long will it take for the Senate to swear in Scott Brown? Will the Democratically controlled Congress delay it?

With the election of Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate the Democratic majority has been accused of seeking ways to delay his swearing in until after Congress passes Obama-Care. Are the accusations true? When it comes to politics one never knows, but we can tell you the official requirements prior to his swearing in:

1. Massachusetts State law requires a minimum of 10 days to allow absentee ballots to come in (all absentee ballots would have be post marked as Jan 19th, 2010 or earlier to be considered valid).
2. An additional 5 days after that are allowed for the Secretary of State to count the ballots to certify the election.

That’s a total of 15 days or approximately 2 weeks.

Are there any exceptions to the officially required delay?

Throughout the campaign it was pointed out that Represenative Niki Tsonga, who was elected in 2006, did not have to wait the 15 days and was pushed into office 2 days later. In her case she was actually not certified any quicker. Instead the Secretary of State decided to send an unofficial letter stating that, while she was not yet certified, the absentee ballots would not change the outcome of the election. This was enough for the House of Representatives to swear her in.

Can this happen for Scott Brown? Theoretically yes. However, there are a couple of factors which may stop it.

1. The current Secretary of State for Massachusetts is a Democrat.
2. The Democratic controlled Congress doesn’t have to agree to do so.
3. Historically speaking, the Senate tends to be more reluctant to do so than the House.

Is it true that Senator Kennedy was sworn in prior to being certified?

Even though it is not as common for the Senate to do so it has happened. Interestingly enough, in 1962 Senator Ted Kennedy was sworn in early under a similar situation.

When was the last time that the state of Massachusetts elected a Republican Senator?

The last Republican Senator elected in the state of Massachusetts was in 1972

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