![]() ![]() We likely will get such a challenge - Rep. But sometimes, there’s a last-minute kerfuffle because there is a process by which members of Congress can challenge the vote count. This congressional count is the final formal step in making the presidential election results official before the inauguration itself. On January 6, 2021, a joint session of the newly elected Congress will convene to count the votes cast by the Electoral College the previous month. Democrats control the House, so any challenge to the results will fail in Congress ![]() The action, such as it is, will move on to Congress. Because after it, statewide Republican officials and GOP state legislators - the politicians Trump has tried to lobby to overturn the results - will no longer play a role in the process. So the Electoral College vote will also be mainly a formality. There have been “ faithless electors” in the past, people who didn’t vote for the candidate who won their state, but such defections are rare (most electors are picked for the job by their party precisely because they are strong partisans), and Biden’s lead is big enough that it’s incredibly unlikely enough faithless electors could overturn it (37 electors would have to defect). Their votes - which will be cast separately in each state and the District of Columbia and announced publicly - officially have the power to make the next president. Together, those 538 people make up the Electoral College. The more consequential approaching date is on Monday, December 14, when the Electoral College actually casts its votes.Įach state, in accordance with the vote results, appoints a slate of people as electors - Biden’s preferred people are appointed in states where Biden won, and Trump’s people are appointed in states where Trump won. And indeed, every state is on track to have its results certified and electors appointed on schedule (though some lawsuits are still pending). It’s mainly relevant because states themselves have targeted this deadline to try and have their results finalized. This year in particular, no substantive effort to overturn the results (in Congress, the courts, or state legislatures) has gained steam, so safe harbor probably isn’t necessary. Its main purpose was to prevent results settled in the states from being later overturned by the federal government - to grant the states “safe harbor” from federal interference. However, the safe harbor deadline doesn’t necessarily set the state results in stone. This is set in federal law, which says that if a state has resolved any “controversy or contest” over the appointment of electors by this day, that resolution is “conclusive, and shall govern in the counting of the electoral votes.” Time is about to officially run out on all these fronts.įirst, this Tuesday, December 8, is the safe harbor deadline. And he’s (unsuccessfully) tried to get Republican state legislators in those states to step in and appoint Trump-supporting electors. He’s (unsuccessfully) tried to get judges to step in and prevent certifications. He’s (unsuccessfully) tried to prevent key states Biden won from certifying their results. Trump’s floundering effort to overturn the results of the election has had several focuses. Two weeks after that, on January 20, Biden will be inaugurated as the next president. The Democrat-controlled House obviously wouldn’t go along with this, so the challenge won’t change the outcome. ![]() But for that challenge to succeed, both the House and the Senate would have to agree to overrule the electoral votes. The one minor hitch is that a Trump ally in the House plans to challenge that count. We’ll know the count in advance because the votes will be public on December 14. Then, on Wednesday, January 6, Congress counts the electoral votes. But it’s the next step in making things official. The states Biden won have appointed elector slates of Democrats, who are certain to vote for Biden. In each state and the District of Columbia, the 538 electors who make up the Electoral College will cast the votes that will technically make Biden the next president. The next big date is Monday, December 14, when the Electoral College votes. But overall, nearly every state has certified its results already, with the few remaining ones expected to do so soon. That doesn’t quite set the results in stone just yet, as I’ll explain. If states have settled their presidential election results by this date, federal law states that those results shall be considered “conclusive” for the purpose of counting electoral votes. This Tuesday, December 8, is what is known as the safe harbor deadline. Despite President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede his defeat, Joe Biden will be confirmed as the winner of the presidential election this Tuesday - and again next week and again in early January before he’s finally sworn in. ![]()
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