Electoral College to gather across country to elect Biden
by Emily Larsen, Political Reporter |
| December 14, 2020 08:58 AM
It's Election Day in America, kind of.
Presidential electors will gather on Monday to select Joe Biden as the next president of the United States, marking one of the final blows to President Trump's challenges to election results. The 51 Electoral College meetings, across 50 states and Washington, D.C., effectively ratify the national election on Nov. 3.
The electors will meet in their respective state capitols across the country, with the earliest states starting at 10 a.m. EST and most states starting before 2 p.m.
Certified state vote tallies are set to give Biden 306 votes to 232 for Trump.
In 2016, Trump had been set to win 306 votes to 232 for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but seven so-called "faithless electors," who defied their states' laws on voting for a certain candidate based on the state's popular vote, resulted in a tally of 304 for Trump and 227 for Clinton. A Supreme Court case decided earlier this year ruled that states can enforce "faithless elector" laws, meaning there could be fewer or no faithless electors this year.
Biden is set to deliver remarks on Monday evening about the Electoral College vote certification and the "strength and resilience of our democracy."
A joint session of Congress will vote on certification of the results on Jan. 6, the last step before Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/electoral-college-gather-country-elect-biden