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Many people think that the winner of the American presidential race is decided once the media announces the final results and the losing candidate gives a defeated speech.
But the truth is the opposite, since the official announcement of the winner takes several months and will not be completed until January of next year.
The process begins on popular voting day that falls this year, Nov. 3, when voters vote for one of the candidates and at the same time elect members of the electoral college, according to the Voice of America website.
The electoral college includes 538 members, divided between the states and Washington, DC, according to population and according to the representation of each state in Congress.
The smallest states are represented by three members, while California is the largest, with 55 members. As for Washington, DC, which is not represented in Congress on an electoral basis, it is represented by three members, as are the smaller states.
The winner of the US presidential election needs to get 270 votes in the electoral college whose members declare their allegiance to one or the other candidate, but there is no federal law restricting them to that.
The members of the Electoral College meet in their state capitals to vote to elect the president and his deputy on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December (this year falls on the 14th of the month) and transmit the results to the federal government.
Votes are then scheduled in a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, to certify the results and officially declare victory to one of the candidates.
Election experts expect the vote counting process to take longer this year due to the Corona pandemic and the number of voters who cast their ballots by mail.
Chronology of the process
All 50 states, plus Washington, DC, count direct and mail popular votes, and then the governor of each state creates a list of the winning electoral college members.
Copies of this list, known as the Certificate of Authentication, are then sent to the President of the National Archives, and then members of the Electoral College meet in their state capitals to officially vote for the office of president and vice president on December 14.
The electoral college members then complete the voting certificates and send them to the Senate, the National Archives, and state officials. Once this is complete, the electoral college will have no further functions until the next presidential election.
The last step is taken on January 6, 2021, when Congress meets to count the electoral votes and officially approve the winner, which is a routine procedure but can witness objections, as happened in 1969 and 2005, when There were objections to some of the electoral college votes, but the House of Representatives and the Senate. The objections were rejected and the relevant votes were counted.
