Emily’s Weekly Political Scoop: All About the Electoral College, the Finalization Process of Biden’s Win, and the Trump Administration’s Continuing Fight for Success

Emilys+Weekly+Political+Scoop%3A+All+About+the+Electoral+College%2C+the+Finalization+Process+of+Biden%E2%80%99s+Win%2C+and+the+Trump+Administrations+Continuing+Fight+for+Success

Emily Landolfi, Staff Writer

This week’s political importance is astonishing, and you do not want to be out of the loop. We will be discussing the process and result of the electors formalizing president-elect Joe Biden’s victory, the next step, and how Trump’s administration is not backing down. Do not worry; there will be background information if you are confused about who the electors are and the voting process.  

According to “Electoral College Information” on the official California Secretary of State website and FairVote.org, the Electoral College system provides each state with a certain number of “votes” depending on the state’s population size. In total, there are 538 electoral votes. Each state gets two votes for its two US senators and one or more additional votes for each member in the House of Representatives. A President is elected into office via a two-step process, starting with voters casting their ballots on Election Day. In most states, besides Nebraska and Maine, the candidate with the most votes wins the state’s electoral votes. As a result, they gain that amount of voters or electors in the Electoral College. The next step, which took place on Monday the 14th, has electors from each state come together in December to vote and formalize who has won the presidency. It is determined by which candidate receives the majority of votes from the Electoral College.

This past Monday determined whether or not Joe Biden would take the next steps to officially become the 46th President of the United States of America. According to the BBC article “Electoral College Begins Casting Votes That Will Cement Biden Victory,” members of the Electoral College affirmed Joe Biden’s victory. The CBS article “All 538 Electors Have Voted, Formalizing Biden’s 306-232 Win. Here’s How the Electoral Vote Works,” by Caroline Linton explains how the votes occur at different times of the day, starting with 10 a.m. ET and concluding at 7 p.m. ET in Hawaii. However, Michigan state House and Senate offices were closed because of “credible threats of violence” and not anticipated protests, resulting in electors having police escorts from their car to the capitol building, according to a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey. Ultimately, Michigan’s Electoral College members cast their ballots for Biden and Harris, who won the state regardless of Doland Trump’s efforts to fight it in court. 

According to the BBC article “Electoral College Begins Casting Votes That Will Cement Biden Victory,” Democrat California, with 55 electors,was one of the last states to vote on Monday. This caused Biden to surpass the 270 votes required to win the presidency. Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer stated, “The people have spoken. It was a safe, fair, and secure election. After today, the results will be final.” Now that the second step has taken place, the voting process results are ordered to be sent to Washington DC and formally counted in a joint session of Congress on January 6th with Vice-President Mike Pence presiding. This furthers the process of Joe Biden officially being sworn in as President on January 20th. Biden spoke on Monday after the count to urge Americans to move forward after the election and claiming that Trump’s legal challenges and refusal to concede are an “assault on democracy” (Linton).

According to The New York Times article “Transition Live Updates: Formally President-Elect, Biden Looks Ahead to Stimulus,’ by Aishvarya Kavi, Republic Senator Mitch McConnel of Kentucky recognized Biden and Harris’ win for the first time, stating, “Many of us hoped that the presidential election would yield a different result, but our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on January 20th…The Electoral College has spoken. So today, I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden…Beyond our differences, all Americans can take pride that our nation has a female vice president-elect for the very first time.” His remarks were caused by his leadership team in the Senate and the chamber’s chaplain congratulating Biden Monday evening and Tuesday morning. 

Trump’s administration, however, is not backing down. He declared on Twitter after McConnell’s exclamations, “…tremendous evidence pouring in on voter fraud. There has never been anything like this in our country!” (Kavi). However, there is no evidence of the specific broad-based fraud that he is insisting (Kavi). Additionally, Congress can challenge the results in a state that did not reach the December 8th deadline (Linton). Rudy Guilianna and Jenna Ellis, Trump’s attorneys, stated, “Despite the media trying desperately to proclaim that the fight is over, we will continue to champion election integrity until legal vote is counted fairly and accurately” (Linton). 

Although this week was majorly important, there are other dates you should be aware of. Copies of the electors’ votes need to be delivered to the recipients on December 23rd, Congress will count the votes of the electors on January 6th, and Biden will be inaugurated on January 20th (Linton). We have all been at the edge of our seats to officially see how this will pan out, and this week has taken a massive step for Biden being sworn into presidency. 

Works Cited 

“Electoral College Begins Casting Votes That Will Cement Biden Victory.” BBC News, BBC, 14 Dec. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-55308526.

Electoral College Information. www.sos.ca.gov/elections/electoral-college.

FairVote.org. “Maine & Nebraska.” FairVote, www.fairvote.org/maine_nebraska.

Kavi, Aishvarya. “Transition Live Updates: Formally President-Elect, Biden Looks Ahead to Stimulus.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Dec. 2020, www.nytimes.com/live/2020/12/15/us/joe-biden-trump. 

Linton, Caroline. “All 538 Electors Have Voted, Formalizing Biden’s 306-232 Win. Here’s How the Electoral Vote Works.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, www.cbsnews.com/news/electoral-college-votes-joe-biden-victory/.