– Now the real challenge begins – VG

On Saturday it became clear: Joe Biden was declared the winner of the US presidential election. She thus becomes the next 46th president of the United States, and Kamala Harris becomes the first female vice president in American history.

With at least 279 voters, Biden wins the election against outgoing President Donald Trump. To become president, you must have a majority in of the 538 electors of the Electoral College with at least 270 voters.

Different states have different numbers of voters, and it is these who will vote on who becomes president after the count in all states has finished with the vote counting.

Read also: Uncertainty in Arizona four days after Fox gave Biden the win

The process from Election Day until the United States has a new president takes more than two months and has several legal stops along the way.

This year, however, the road may be even more problematic for Biden than usual: the country’s current president, Donald Trump, has not acknowledged the electoral defeat and congratulated him on his victory, and has made several accusations of electoral fraud.

He has also said the election “is far from over,” and the Trump campaign has filed a series of lawsuits against the vote count in several states.

Republicans on Trump’s lawsuit: Toothless and groundless

Call on Trump to begin the transition process

The Center for the Presidential Transition Board, which works to advise incoming presidents who will assume the presidency in the United States, writes in a statement Sunday that Biden’s campaign is underway.

However, they point out that the incumbent president makes everything more complicated than usual:

– Now the real challenge begins. We ask the Trump administration to begin the transition process immediately and the Biden team to use all the resources that are available to them. This was a difficult campaign, but history is full of examples of presidents congratulating their opponents in a dignified manner after such campaigns.

The statement was signed by Republicans Josh Bolten and Michael Leavitt, both with experience of the Bush administration, and Democrats Thomas McLarty and Penny S. Pritzker, with experience of the Clinton and Obama administrations, respectively.

– «President of the lame duck»

VG commentator Hanne Skartveit, who has been to the US during the election, says that Joe Biden’s transition team will now take on the various roles so there will be the best possible transition from one president to another.

– It usually goes quite well, she says and adds:

– Donald Trump will now be the so-called “lame duck president.” He has all the power and everything that corresponds to the presidency, but in principle he should not be able to do anything because it is another president-elect in the United States who takes office on January 20.

VG Special: What if Donald Trump refuses to leave the White House?

It is not very clear what will happen if Trump refuses to give up power and leave the White House. “I’m sure the military will escort him quickly.”Biden said when asked about that scenario.

– Nothing can be ruled out with Trump, but being removed from the White House hurts a man with his own image, US expert and Civita adviser Eirik Løkke has previously told VG.

Below the election overview, you can see a list of important dates leading up to Biden’s inauguration.

Votes are still counted, and the media have different practices for when they consider that a state is decided. VG figures are provided by DPA, as a user CNN as main source:

The time after Election Day in the United States

• US Election Day falls on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. This year it was November 3. Voting begins across the country on Election Day. In some states, like Florida, the mail-in vote counting begins before Election Day, while others, like Pennsylvania, have to wait until Election Day to count them as well.

• During this period the votes received are counted and recorded. For mail-in ballots to pass, they had to be sealed in every state by midnight on November 3. In most cases, mail-in ballots should have arrived a day or two after Election Day.
• In Washington state, however, they receive mail-in ballots until November 23, which is the day before the state ratifies the election result.
• In the auspicious states of Pennsylvania, mail-in votes can run through November 6. In the auspicious states of Minnesota and Nevada, they receive votes by mail until November 10, and in Ohio the border is November 13.

• Each state ratifies the results of the elections. It happens in a slightly different way in different states. The deadline for when a state should have submitted its result can be postponed if the margins between candidates are too small.

• This is the time frame for states to have counted the votes, resolved disputes over the outcome, and determined the winner of the state electoral votes.

• Voters cast their votes in the state they represent. It will take place on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, which this year falls on December 14.
• Washington DC and 33 states have laws that say voters must vote based on who won the state election. The laws also provide a basis for imposing fines on voters who cannot vote for the winner, but as they wish.
• After the vote, six ballots will be sent to Washington, including the president of the Senate, who is the current vice president.
• According to National Geographic, there is a theoretical possibility that the loser of the election will not accept this vote, which in that case will result in a constitutional crisis.

• The ballots with the voters’ votes have nine days to reach Congress in Washington and the officials who will have them.

• The new Congress, which consists of both houses of the Senate and the House of Representatives, is sworn in. This is the official opening of the 117th Congress of the United States.
• Democrats are likely to retain a majority in the House of Representatives, while Republicans are likely to retain a majority in the Senate. However, it has yet to be decided. At least two of the 100 Senate seats will go to the polls in January, which means the Senate may at least be divided.

• Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate hold a joint meeting, where the electoral votes are read and counted in alphabetical order. If one of the candidates, Biden or Trump, has received 270 or more votes, the President of the Senate will announce the result.
• If neither of the two presidential candidates has received at least 270 votes, the House of Representatives can decide the election. Then it is the majority that decides who becomes president. This is unlikely to happen in 2021, because Joe Biden had already secured 279 voters on Saturday, November 8.

• This is the opening day. The outgoing president has a habit of welcoming the incoming president into the White House prior to the inauguration ceremony, as Barack Obama did before Donald Trump took office.
• An inauguration ceremony will then be held where the incoming president will take office. It is common for all former presidents who are still alive to attend this ceremony.
• If the incoming President dies between Election Day and Inauguration Day, the incoming Vice President will be sworn in and become the next President of the United States.
• It is unclear what will happen if the outgoing president refuses to leave the White House. Biden has said he is sure the military will escort him by force.

That’s how it was when Donald Trump took office on January 20, 2016.

Sources: CNN Y The Guardian