[ad_1]
LANSING, Michigan: Democrat Joe Biden won the state-by-state Electoral College vote that formally determines the presidency of the United States on Monday (December 14), nearly ending President Donald Trump’s shaky campaign to reverse his defeat in the elections of November 3.
California, the most populous state, delivered its 55 electoral votes to Biden on Monday afternoon, officially putting the former vice president above the 270 votes needed to secure the White House. According to the November results, Biden obtained 306 votes in the electoral college compared to 232 for Republican Trump.
Earlier in the day, voters in several major states where Trump has tried to reverse the outcome without success (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) also voted for Biden, who will take office on January 20 along with his running mate. Kamala Harris.
Traditionally a formality, the Electoral College vote, set for Monday by federal law, assumed enormous importance due to Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread fraud.
Biden planned a primetime address at 7.30 pm ET Monday to mark the occasion and ask Americans to “turn the page” in the Trump era.
“The flame of democracy was lit in this nation long ago,” he was expected to say, according to excerpts released by his transition team. “And now we know that nothing, not even a pandemic, or an abuse of power, can put out that flame.
“In this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed.”
United States President-elect Joe Biden gestures as he leaves Penn Medicine Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 12, 2020 (Photo: REUTERS / Mike Segar).
There was almost no chance that Monday’s vote would deny Biden’s victory and, with Trump’s legal campaign to reverse the results failing, the president’s vague hopes of holding onto power rest on persuading Congress not to accept the vote. election on Monday during a special session on January 6. an effort that is practically certain to fail.
Once in office, Biden faces the challenging task of fighting the coronavirus pandemic, reviving the United States economy, and rebuilding relations worn down with US allies abroad by Trump’s “America First” policies. .
THREATS OF VIOLENCE
In Arizona, at the beginning of the voters’ meeting there, the state’s Democratic secretary of state, Katie Hobbs, said that Trump’s fraud allegations “had led to threats of violence against me, my office, and those in this office today. sala, “echoing similar reports of threats and intimidation in other states.
“While there will be those who will be upset that their candidate did not win, it is patently anti-American and unacceptable that today’s event is anything less than an honored tradition celebrated with pride and celebration,” Hobbs said.
A group of Trump supporters called on Facebook for all-day protests Monday in front of the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, one of the most-fought states where Trump lost.
But by early afternoon only a few had gathered, including 66-year-old Bob Ray, a retired construction worker. He was holding a sign that read, “order a forensic audit,” “save America,” and “stop communism.”
READ: Trump and 17 states back Texas attempt to undo electoral defeat in Supreme Court
Under a complicated system dating back to the 1780s, a candidate becomes president of the United States.Not by winning a majority of the popular vote, but through the Electoral College system, which allocates electoral votes to the 50s. states and the District of Columbia largely based on the size of its population.
Voters are typically loyal to the parties representing the winning candidate in their state, with the exception of Maine and Nebraska, which allocate some of their Electoral College votes based on the candidate who won in each of the US Congressional districts. state.
While there are sometimes a handful of “rogue” voters who vote for someone who is not the popular vote winner for their state, the vast majority confirm the results.
A state law enforcement officer watches as voters arrive to cast their votes for the United States presidential election at the State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on December 14, 2020 (Photo: REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst).
Trump said late last month that he would leave the White House if the Electoral College voted for Biden, but has since pushed forward with his unprecedented campaign to reverse his defeat. On Monday, he repeated a series of unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud.
“Swinging states that have encountered MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD, which is all of them, CANNOT LEGALLY CERTIFY these votes as complete and correct without committing a severely punishable offense,” he wrote on Twitter.
TRUMP GAMBIT
Trump had asked Republican state lawmakers to name their own constituents, essentially ignoring the will of the voters, but lawmakers largely rejected the idea.
“I fought hard for President Trump. Nobody wanted him to win more than I did,” Lee Chatfield, Republican Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, said in a statement. “But I also love our republic. I can’t imagine risking our norms, traditions, and institutions to pass a resolution that retroactively changes Trump’s constituents.”
Once the Electoral College vote is complete, Trump’s only remaining tactic would be to persuade Congress not to certify the count on January 6.
READ: Joe Biden & Kamala Harris Named Time’s ‘Person of the Year’
Any attempt to block a state’s results, and thus change the overall count for the United States, must gain majority approval from both houses of Congress that day. Democrats control the House of Representatives, while enough Republicans in the Senate have acknowledged Biden’s victory to guarantee that any challenge is likely to fail.
In 2016, Trump won the Electoral College despite losing the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million votes. The formal vote gained special attention when some Democratic activists called on voters to “go rogue” against Trump. In the end, seven voters broke ranks, an unusually high number, but still too few to influence the outcome.
