Under federal law, the Electoral College will complete the ballot on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. This means that on December 14th local time, 538 voters will vote for the next President and Vice President according to the results of the state election.
The Guardian noted that “This Monday (December 14), the Electoral College will officially send Biden to the White House.” On November 26th, local time, Trump also made a statement that he would leave the White House if the electoral college voted for Biden.
What should we know about the key node of voting in the 2020 electoral college?
According to the New York Times, the usual electoral college vote is only a routine procedure to confirm the results of the November election and does not attract widespread attention. This year, the situation is very different.
For more than a month, the Trump campaign and some Republicans have continued to accuse the election of “election fraud” and have filed lawsuits in many states to try to overturn the election results, and even want to replace the electors in four “key swing states”. However, no substantive progress has been made in these efforts.
How does the electoral college vote?
According to the BBC, when the American people go to the polling station or vote by mail, they really elect an electoral college composed of a group of officials.
The political parties in each state determine their own electors before the general election, and the states then choose the electors of different political parties to vote according to the results of the general election.
For example, if Biden wins the state, then it will be voted by the state’s Democratic voters. According to the U.S. Constitution, voters cannot be members of Congress or current federal government officials.
They are usually political activists, retired politicians, state and local officials, funders and people close to presidential candidates.
According to NBC, most of the votes will be held in the state capitol building, and some state voters will vote in meetings in the governor’s office or the Secretary of State.
After casting the ballot, the elector will first count the results, then sign a certificate with the results of the ballot, and finally send the certificate to the President of the Senate, Vice President Pence, the Office of the Federal Register (OFR), the Secretary of State of their respective states, and the Chief Justice of the Federal District Court.
Most states have provided live channels for people to watch the voting process this year, according to The New York Times.
Will there be “distrustworthy voters”?
According to the New York Times, electors will elect the president and vice president by paper voting.
Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia law require voters to vote for the presidential candidates who won the state’s general election, while 17 states do not bind their electors.
Generally speaking, voters will promise to vote according to the results of the voters before voting, but there may also be dishonesty.
According to NBC, there have been 16 “faithless electors” in the U.S. election since 1948, and 7 dishonest voters have appeared in the 2016 election alone. However, so far, there has been no change in the outcome of the general election due to the dishonesty of voters.
On July 6, 2020, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that it refused to give “disbeliefful voters” the right to choose presidential candidates at will, requiring them to follow the results of the state voters’ votes and vote for the candidates supported by voters.
According to Politico, a US political news website, the candidates selected by the Biden campaign are the most loyal Democrats and high-profile leaders in the states.
Since the election, the Biden team has been providing the most accurate information to voters and working with the Democratic National Committee to ensure that state voters are present on time on the day of the ballot and provide the necessary support in unexpected circumstances.
According to the analysis of The New York Times, the possibility of “disbelievious electors” changing their positions and ceding their electoral votes to Trump this year is basically zero. Trump’s legal team also pointed out that the Electoral College vote may end Trump’s last efforts to stay in power.
What is the next key node?
On January 3rd local time, the members of the new Congress will be sworn in. On the 5th, Georgia will also hold a runoff election to confirm the final ownership of two seats in the Senate.
On January 6th local time, Vice President Pence will preside over the joint meeting of the new Congress and the House of Representatives. Pence will open the certificate of results in alphabetical order of each state at the meeting.
Four tellers (two from the House of Representatives and two from the Senate) count the votes, and Pence reads the election results when one of the presidential candidates takes the lead in obtaining 270 electoral votes.
Federal law strictly sets out the procedure for meetings, and meetings will not end until the state counts are completed and the results are publicly announced.
After the results of the vote are announced, members of Congress still have the opportunity to express their doubts about the election results.
However, any objection to the results of the state election must be submitted in writing and signed by at least one senator and one representative. Subsequently, the two houses debated the dissenting opinions respectively.
Each member of Congress can only speak once for five minutes, and the debate will end two hours later. Finally, members of both houses voted separately to reject the election results of the state. Only when both houses vote against it will take effect.
However, there is little chance that this will happen. Since the adoption of the Electoral Vote Calculation Ordinance in 1887, Congress has only raised two objections in 1969 and 2005, and none of them has been successful.
The analysis of The New York Times believes that it is basically impossible for the Republican Party to prevent Biden from taking office through Congress. Opposition must be passed by a simple majority in both houses of Congress. Democrats control the House of Representatives as long as they win t
he support of the election results by two Republicans in the Senate. So far, many Republican senators have admitted Biden’s victory in the election.
If Biden wins the electoral college vote, he will be officially sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on January 20 local time.
