It occurs every four years and officially names the subsequent president and vp — but as a result of President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the election outcomes, this year’s Electoral College vote Monday is getting extra scrutiny and taking on even more significance.
All 50 states indulge in already licensed their election outcomes guaranteeing that Joe Biden might perchance presumably perchance be the 46th president, however the Electoral College vote makes the end result authentic.
Trump and a few Republican had sought to indulge in electors eliminated in four crucial battleground states, however the Supreme Court docket rejected that are attempting on Friday night. After the court victory, Biden spokesman Mike Gwin acknowledged, “President-elect Biden’s sure and commanding victory shall be ratified by the Electoral College on Monday, and he’s going to be sworn in on January 20th.”
Right here is a look for at what the vote formulation, how and where it takes web page and what occurs subsequent.
What’s the Electoral College?
The Electoral College will not be a web page — it be a direction of.
The “college” portion of the term is derived from the Latin observe “collegium” — a “society of work-mates.” In this case, it be a society of electors. Below the Constitution, the electors are the folks that in actuality solid votes for president.
The electors are chosen by the political events of every convey forward of the November general election. The birthday celebration whose candidate gets primarily the most votes for president within the convey gets to indulge in its electors vote for that candidate. (Most states indulge in a winner-opt-all procedure, with Maine and Nebraska being the exceptions.)
How many electors are there?
The “college” contains 538 electors, and 270 votes are wished for a candidate to opt the presidency. The number of electors in a convey is the identical because the number of people within the convey’s congressional delegation. The District of Columbia has three electors.
What’s occurring Monday?
After a convey’s vote totals are licensed, its governor prepares a Certificate of Ascertainment with the names of the a hit electors and the number of votes.
Below federal regulations, the electors find of their separate states to “give their votes on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December.” This year, that is Dec. 14.
A lot of the vote casting will opt web page in convey Capitol buildings. In quite lots of states, electors meet within the find web site of job of the governor or the secretary of convey.
The first states situation to vote Monday are Indiana, Tennessee and Vermont, that will opt web page at 10 a.m. ET. Battleground states which were hotly contested with correct challenges by Trump vote a itsy-bitsy bit later — Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania’s electors are slated to vote at noon, while Wisconsin’s are scheduled to vote at 1 p.m. and Michigan’s at 2 p.m.
As soon as the votes are solid and Biden passes the 270 label, he’s going to officially be president-elect and Sen. Kamala Harris the vp-elect. They’re going to be sworn into web page of job Jan. 20.
Biden is anticipated to raise remarks on the vote around 8 p.m. ET on Monday.
What characteristic attain Congress and Pence indulge in?
After the Electoral Faculties votes, the states ship the votes on to Washington, where they’re going to be counted in a joint session of Congress at 1 p.m. ET Jan. 6. The president of the Senate — on this case Vice President Mike Pence — will then formally boom the winners.
(Biden got to boom his private re-election as vp in 2013, and Trump and Pence’s election in 2017.)
What’s Trump acknowledged about the Electoral College?
While the president maintains the election used to be rigged and that he obtained a second term, he acknowledged in slack November that he would sure out of the White Home in January if he lost the Electoral College vote.
“Completely I will,” he acknowledged.
Nonetheless, Trump added, if the Electoral College does vote for Biden, “they made a mistake.”
Can electors trade their votes?
Some can, but it not frequently occurs. Since 1948, there indulge in ideal been 16 “faithless electors” — even though there were seven in 2016. 5 switched their votes from Hillary Clinton to folks and two modified their votes from Trump to others.
Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia indulge in regulations requiring the electors to vote for the candidate they’ve pledged to vote for and, of these, 15 indulge in penalties for electors who make not. The Supreme Court docket earlier this year upheld states’ rights to penalize faithless electors.
Can Congress block the Jan. 6 depend?
Technically yes, but realistically no.
Below an 1887 regulations, a congressman and a senator together can put up written objections to a convey’s vote depend. Fetch. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., has already announced his intention to attain so Monday, even though no senator has yet acknowledged they might perchance well presumably perchance be a half of him.
If Brooks is winning to find a accomplice, the depend would pause and the Senate and the Home would separately debate the objection on the disputed convey’s vote for as much as two hours. Then the Home and the Senate would vote on whether to retain the objections.
“Both houses need to vote separately to agree to the objection. In every other case, the objection fails,” the Congressional Study Provider necessary.
With the Home below Democratic control and Republicans having ideal a slim majority within the Senate, the possibilities of that occurring are zero.
Objections indulge in ideal been made twice since 1887, once in 1969 over a faithless elector and once in 2005 over vote casting irregularities in Ohio. Neither are attempting used to be winning.
