The VPOTUS Role & Responsibility In The Certification Of Elections Of POTUS

The Vice-President is not supposed to not certify Presidential elections. He/she merely is supposed to open the certificates sent to him from the group of electors in each state. He/she then supposedly announces to the U.S. Senate and US House of Representatives the choices of each individual elector from each state and also each state's candidates' overall results. The count takes place there.

Could Vice-President Mike Pence have refused to open these certificates from electors of a state whom he 100% believed, based on what was proven to him, were not indeed legitimate electors? He could have indeed refused to do so based on that belief. He would have then been required to tell both the US Senate and US House Of Representatives that these certificates did not come from legitimate electors.

It all "boils down to" what he honestly believed at that time. It is highly conceivable that while Pence believed election fraud did take place but it was not enough to change a state's ultimate choice for POTUS. In lieu of this, he may have then decided he had no choice but to open those certificates from electors whom he believed were legitimate.