Joe Biden Officially Captures Enough Electoral Votes to Win Presidency
he Electoral College on Monday reaffirmed Joe Biden as president-elect after California’s 55 electoral votes put the Democrat over the 270 needed to win the White House.
The outcome, according to an Associated Press tally, came as President Trump—with the backing of many Republicans—continued to dispute November’s election results.
The next major step in the process of electing the president comes Jan. 6, when Vice President Mike Pence is expected to preside over a joint session of Congress in which the totals from each state will be counted and an outcome declared.
The Electoral College, meeting in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, conducted its business in an environment of heightened significance given Mr. Trump’s protests about an unofficial outcome that showed him losing to Mr. Biden, 232 votes to 306 votes.
In most of the states that held gatherings, the process took less than an hour.
s of early evening Eastern time, the AP tally showed Mr. Biden leading Mr. Trump, 302 votes to 232 votes. Hawaii, with four electoral votes, was to start its process at 7 p.m. Eastern.
Added security measures were adopted by some states amid a tense national political climate and Covid-19 restrictions. The majority of electors in the first set of states were wearing masks and some meetings were being held in mostly closed capitol buildings with few observers, although most of the proceedings were streamed live online.
Mr. Biden is expected to deliver remarks Monday evening in Wilmington, Del., about the Electoral College results, which will give him another opportunity to declare victory. In his remarks, he plans to praise the resiliency of the democratic process.
“We the people voted. Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact,” Mr. Biden will say, according to prepared remarks distributed by his transition team. “Now it is time to turn the page, to unite, to heal.”
Throughout the day, Democrats called for Mr. Trump to end his challenges.
“After today, the results will be final,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told electors in her state. “It’s time to move forward together as one United States of America. Now is the time for us to put this election behind us and to focus our efforts, together, to defeat our common enemy, Covid-19.”
On Friday, the Supreme Court rejected a long-shot bid filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to void 20 million votes in four other states. More than 100 House Republicans signed a brief in support of the lawsuit, which came after dozens of other failed efforts to overturn Mr. Biden’s win.
On Monday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected a Trump campaign lawsuit that sought to invalidate the votes of 220,000 people, asking the court to throw out four broad categories of votes.
Biden
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Maine
Maine
Maine
N.H.
N.H.
N.H.
Vt.
Vt.
Vt.
Mass.
Mass.
Mass.
Wash.
Wash.
Wash.
R.I.
R.I.
R.I.
Conn.
Conn.
Conn.
Minn.
Minn.
Minn.
N.Y.
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N.Y.
Wis.
N.Y.
Wis.
Mich.
Ore.
Mich.
N.D.
Ore.
Mich.
N.D.
Ore.
N.D.
Mont.
S.D.
Mont.
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Mont.
S.D.
Iowa
Iowa
Iowa
Wyo.
Idaho
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Idaho
Neb.
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Neb.
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Pa.
Pa.
Pa.
Ill.
Ill.
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Ind.
Nev.
Colo.
Ind.
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Utah
Colo.
Nev.
Utah
Colo.
Utah
Kan.
Kan.
Kan.
Ohio
Ohio
Ohio
Del.
Del.
Del.
Mo.
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Mo.
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Md.
Md.
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N.J.
N.J.
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Okla.
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N.M.
N.M.
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Ark.
Va.
Ark.
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Ark.
Calif.
Calif.
Calif.
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Ky.
Ky.
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Ariz.
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Tenn.
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Miss.
Miss.
La.
La.
La.
N.C.
N.C.
N.C.
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Ala.
Ala.
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Texas
Texas
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Ga.
Ga.
D.C.
D.C.
D.C.
S.C.
S.C.
S.C.
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Fla.
Fla.
Alaska
Alaska
Alaska
Hawaii
One square equals
one electoral vote
Hawaii
Hawaii
Trump aide Stephen Miller said Monday on Fox News that the campaign planned to keep contesting the result: “The only date in the Constitution is Jan. 20. So we have more than enough time to right the wrong of this fraudulent election result and certify Donald Trump as the winner of the election.” The campaign declined to further explain its plans
Attorney General William Barr has said the Justice Department hasn’t found evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Some of Mr. Trump’s supporters sought to create their own version of the Electoral College in some battleground states Mr. Biden won—including Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—calling together Republicans to cast unofficial votes for the incumbent.
“We took this procedural vote to preserve any legal claims that may be presented going forward,” Bernie Comfort, Mr. Trump’s Pennsylvania campaign chairwoman, said in a statement. “This was in no way an effort to usurp or contest the will of the Pennsylvania voters.”
Retiring Rep. Paul Mitchell of Michigan on Monday withdrew his membership in the Republican Party in a letter addressed to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel ; he wrote that although he voted for Mr. Trump in 2020, he couldn’t remain affiliated with the party and its efforts to overturn the election results.
“It is unacceptable for political candidates to treat our election system as though we are a third-world nation and incite distrust of something so basic as the sanctity of our vote,” Mr. Paul said in the letter, a copy of which he posted on Twitter.
The Electoral College, created by the nation’s founders as a compromise between those who favored a direct popular vote and those who wanted lawmakers to pick presidents, is undergoing some adjustments because of the coronavirus pandemic. Some states placed limits on the number of guests electors can bring, while others moved the meetings to larger spaces to better accommodate social distancing.
Electors are legally bound in some states to vote for the person who won their state, a requirement the Supreme Court said earlier this year is permissible. In others, so-called faithless electors can break ranks, though that is rare. In 2016, seven electors voted for someone other than their party’s nominee.
In each state, electors review the election results and sign certificates containing separate electoral-vote totals for the presidential and vice presidential candidates. They pair those certificates with paperwork from their governor and mail the material to a variety of state and federal officials.
Some well-known people are among this year’s electors. Hillary Clinton is among New York Democratic electors, as is her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia House minority leader who narrowly lost a 2018 bid for governor, is also an elector.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is a Republican elector, as is Ken Blackwell, a former Ohio secretary of state and treasurer. They are staunch Trump supporters.
By John McCormick and Alexa Corse
Vermont presidential elector Kesha Ram filled out her presidential ballot Monday at the capitol in Montpelier.
PHOTO: WILSON RING/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Electoral College conducts business in environment of heightened significance amid Trump protests
Joe Biden Officially Captures Enough Electoral Votes to Win Presidency
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