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Joe Biden took another step toward the White House when key states in the polling station system formally confirmed his election victory on Monday, ending Donald Trump’s risky attempt to nullify the results.
State-by-state voting, traditionally an afterthought, has become enormously important due to Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread fraud.
The results of the November election show that Biden won 306 electoral college votes, surpassing the 270 needed to win, after four tumultuous years under Trump. President-elect and running mate Kamala Harris will take office on January 20.
There is almost no chance that Monday’s vote will deny Biden’s victory and with Trump’s legal campaign failing, the president’s hopes rest on a special meeting of Congress on January 6, where the odds against him are so good. as insurmountable.
At 78, the oldest person to become president of the United States, Biden was due to deliver a speech at 8 pm Monday on the electoral college “and the strength and resilience of our democracy,” his team said. transition.
Members of polling stations in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin voted for Biden on Monday, confirming his victories in battleground states that Trump challenged in court. Voters in Arizona, which Trump lost after winning in 2016, cast the state’s votes for Biden.
“While there will be those who are 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,” said Arizona Secretary of State Katie. Hobbs said.
The Democrat said Trump’s allegations of voter fraud had “sparked threats of violence against me, my office and those in this room today,” echoing similar reports of threats and intimidation in other states.
A group of Trump supporters called on Facebook for all-day protests outside the state capitol in Lansing, Michigan. But by early afternoon only a few had gathered.
Under a complicated system dating back to the 1780s, a candidate becomes president of the U.S. Not by winning a majority of the popular vote, but through the electoral college, which assigns votes to all 50 states and the District. of Columbia primarily based on population.
Voters are typically loyal to the parties representing the winning candidate in their state, with the exception of Maine and Nebraska, which award some of their electoral college votes to the candidate who won in the state’s congressional districts.
While “dishonest” voters sometimes vote for someone other than the winner of the popular vote for their state, the vast majority approve of the results and officials expected nothing different Monday.
Trump said late last month that he would leave the White House if the electoral college voted for Biden, but has since pursued his unprecedented campaign to reverse his defeat, filing numerous lawsuits challenging state vote counts. On Monday, he repeated a series of unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud.
He has also asked Republican lawmakers to appoint their own constituents, essentially ignoring the will of the voters. State lawmakers have largely dismissed the idea.
“I fought hard for President Trump. Nobody wanted him to earn more than me, ”said Lee Chatfield, Republican Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, in a statement. “But I also love our republic. I cannot 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. Any attempt to block the results of a state must be approved by both houses of Congress that day. Democrats control the House of Representatives and several Republican senators have acknowledged Biden’s victory.
In 2016, Trump won the electoral college despite losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million votes. In the formal vote, some Democrats called on voters to “go rogue” against Trump. In the end, seven broke ranks, an unusually high number but still too few to influence the outcome.
