After his win at the electoral college, President-Elect Joe Biden has just one more step to go before he enters the white house.
On Monday Night President-Elect Joe Biden came one step closer to the White House when he secured victory in the Electoral college vote.
Joe Biden and Vice president-elect Kamala Harris secured a clear majority of 306 electoral votes after California, largest U.S state cast its 55 electors votes on the democratic ticket.
There are 538 electors in the Electoral College and a majority of 270 is required to win. Trump won 232.
President Trump and his allies have continued to spread claims of widespread voter fraud and have attempted to undermine the results of the election held on November 3.
Trump campaign has roughly filled 50 lawsuits in different swing states, all of which were either withdrawn or dismissed in court. Including dismissal by the supreme court twice.
These claims have sparked uproar and unrest from loyal Trump supporters. Thousands of them coming to streets in Washington DC last week chanting ‘stop the steal’. There are also incidents of reported threats of violence and verbal abuse against the electoral.
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Electors from Arizona were forced to meet at an undisclosed location for the vote and Michigan had to shut down the state house due to threat of violence from trump supporters.
Normally this meeting of the electoral college is only a formality. But with Trump campaign challenging Biden’s win at every step, such low-key-post-election procedures have come under great scrutiny.
What is Electoral College?
Established in 1787 by the U.S. constitution, the Electoral college comprises 538 electors: one for each member of the House of Representatives, two per US Senator, except for Washington DC, which has three, all allocated through the 22nd Amendment.
It was established because of concerns of less populous states which feared discriminated representation, as the more populous states have more seats in the House of Representatives. So it was decided that each of the states will receive one elector per senator-which all the states have two of- regardless of their population.
Prior to the election, electors are chosen by the Presidential candidates and their parties in each state. So when US Citizens vote they don’t directly vote for the presidential candidate they vote for the chosen electors.
These electors are usually lesser-known party loyalists who pledge to vote for the party candidate.
After the voters cast their votes in the election and the states certify the results. The electors meet in their respective states, and the electoral college convenes. In almost all the states, the winner of popular votes gets all the electoral votes, which in the 2020 election was Joe Biden.
For the past few years, especially after Trump’s presidential win in 2016, due to the electoral college, despite him losing the popular vote, there has been a growing demand to abolish the electoral college.
Now What’s Next?
Though Biden-Harris’s win in the electoral college makes the presidential win official, there is just one more procedural step before Biden can enter the white house.
The documents containing the electoral college’s votes will now head to Washington DC, where they will be recounted and tallied in a joint session of House of Representatives and the Senate on January 6.
Vice President Mike Pence will preside the session. Objections to the results by the members of congress will be debated in their respective chambers, followed by a vote on whether or not to reject the result.
Some republicans have publicly said that they will challenge Biden’s selection during the joint session. But an objection needs to pass a simple majority vote in both the chambers, possibility of which is unlikely.
Regardless of the unlikelihood of Republicans being able to overturn the election results, Trump loyalists and campaign members are claiming that they have enough time to prepare and secure a win for President Trump through the vote in Congress on January 6.
Most of the republicans in congress have not yet acknowledged Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election. In fact, 125 Republican members of the House signed on to an appeal by the state of Texas to the US Supreme Court attempting to overturn the vote in key states that went for Biden.