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WASHINGTON – US President-elect Joe Biden won the Electoral College as expected, with 302 votes to current President Donald Trump’s 232.
Voters gathered across the country in solemn sessions, some with prayers of various faiths, to cast their votes for the president and vice president, all on live television.
At 5.30 p.m. On Monday, US Eastern Time (6:30 AM Tuesday, Singapore Time), California’s votes arrived and it was all over: Biden had crossed the 270 mark, which is the majority in the Electoral College required to win the presidency.
Based on certified state results, he is on track to win 306 votes in the electoral college, and President Trump is no more than 232.
The result, never in doubt even though Trump maintains that the election was “stolen,” closes almost all legal avenues for the incumbent to revoke the election.
The next step in the process is for Congress, in a joint session on January 6, to officially count the votes and certify Mr. Biden, 78, president-elect.
Sen. Kamala Harris, 56, will be vice president, the first woman and the first person of color to hold the second-highest office.
The joint session of Congress is usually a formality. This time around, some Trump allies, led by Alabama Republican Congressman Mo Brooks, are considering a challenge, but analysts say it’s a long shot and the outcome won’t change just yet.
Mr. Biden addressed the nation hours later, saying: “In America, politicians don’t take power, people give it to them.
“The flame of democracy was lit in this nation long ago. 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. We, the people, voted. Faith in our institutions was maintained. The integrity of our elections remains intact.
“And so, now is the time to turn the page. To unite. To heal. As I said during this campaign, I will be a president for all Americans. I will work just as hard for those of you who did not vote for me, as I will for those who did. “
More votes were cast in the 2020 presidential election than in any other in U.S. history, with Biden winning 81.2 million to Trump’s 74.2 million.
The stakes are high in Georgia
This will not end the political tension, as Georgia becomes the scene of another critical contest: a runoff for two Senate seats that will mark the difference between Republican and Democratic control of the Senate.
Both Trump and Biden are scheduled to campaign in Georgia in the coming days. The second round is scheduled for January 5.
The stakes are high; Republican control will be a brake on Biden’s legislative agenda. President Trump has framed the contest with extreme rhetoric, saying that Democratic control means the country will sink into ruinous socialism.
Furthermore, in the future, the largest political gap will continue to exist. Like the weekend, 82 percent of Trump supporters polled by CBS News did not see Biden as the rightful victor. A Fox News poll found that 77 percent believe the election was stolen from Trump.
Tension on the rise
Following a pro-Trump rally in the capital last Saturday, street battles between right-wing white supremacists and left-wing activists and Black Lives Matter left four with stab wounds.
Violence also occurred in protests outside the Washington state capital in Olympia.
Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Georgia, heavily armed white militants marched to the state Capitol in a show of force, and were briefly confronted also by black-clad and also armed “Antifa” – an anti-fascist network – under the watchful eye of the policeman.
Before Monday’s voters’ meeting at the state Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, officials closed all state government buildings due to “credible threats of violence.”
At the pro-Trump rally in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, DC last Saturday, speakers presented what they called evidence, none of which has so far resisted in any court, of massive voter fraud.
And there was a strong religious element. Mike Lindell, Minnesota bedding entrepreneur and Trump supporter, told the crowd that “Donald Trump was chosen by God.”
Trump has continued to insist that Biden will be an “illegitimate president.”
On Sunday he tweeted: “Most Corrupt Elections in American History!”
As has become almost customary, Twitter marked that tweet with a tag that read “This claim about voter fraud is in dispute.”
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