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- Arizona and Wisconsin officially certified Joe Biden’s electoral victories, further confirming the results in his favor.
- The last Democrat to win Arizona was Bill Clinton in 1996, marking another shift on America’s electoral map.
- Biden has continued with the transition process, despite the efforts of Donald Trump and his campaign to undo the election.
Washington – President-elect Joe Biden’s victories in Arizona and Wisconsin were certified Monday, further cementing his victory even as Donald Trump continues to make unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.
During the final official certification of the vote, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said:
This election was conducted with transparency, precision, and fairness in accordance with Arizona electoral laws and procedures, despite numerous unsubstantiated claims to the contrary.
The last Democrat to lead the Southwestern state in the race for the White House was Bill Clinton in 1996, marking a significant shift on America’s electoral map this year.
Biden beat Trump by just over 10,400 ballots in a state where turnout was high, and demographic shifts saw a growing population of young Hispanic voters.
The former vice president’s victory in the former trustworthy Republican stronghold could also be attributed to suburban women drawn to his centrist approach, experts have said.
Trump has refused to bow to Biden, who delayed the start of the presidential transition for weeks, as he made unsubstantiated claims of fraud that have been rejected in state and federal courts.
“WOW, total electoral corruption in Arizona. Listening now!” Trump tweeted as his lawyers and some lawmakers met in Arizona.
Wisconsin, another hotly contested state that Trump narrowly won in 2016, also certified Biden’s victory on Monday, with Gov. Tony Evers tweeting that he had “done his duty.”
Legal challenges
“Please join me in thanking our clerks, election administrators and poll workers across our state for working tirelessly to ensure that we have a safe, fair and efficient election,” he added.
Trump has also focused on legal challenges in the state of Pennsylvania, which the president won in 2016, but was returned to Democrats this year.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Saturday dismissed a Republican lawsuit seeking to invalidate mail-in ballots in the battlefield state, or to discard all votes and allow the state legislature to decide the winner.
The court dismissed both claims in a unanimous decision, calling the second an “extraordinary proposition that the court would disenfranchise the 6.9 million Pennsylvanians who voted in the general election.”
Pennsylvania officially certified Biden’s victory there on November 24. The lawsuit also sought to stop the certification.
Biden has continued with the transition process, despite the efforts of Trump and his campaign to undo the election, and is due to take office on January 20.
Biden won the electoral college vote, the state-by-state contest that decides the winner, by 306-232.
In the national popular vote, which does not decide the outcome, but still carries political and symbolic weight, Biden won by 51% to 47%.
The Electoral College will almost certainly go through formal motions to confirm Biden when it meets on Dec. 14.
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