Americans old enough to remember 2016 or who paid close attention in fifth-grade civics class understand that last week’s presidential election was not the moment at which Joe Biden was determined to have become the next president. At least, not directly.
Last week’s vote did establish Biden as president-elect, yes. But it’s the vote of the electoral college, a group of 538 individual voters, that will formally make Biden the next president.
Normally, the transition from the state-level vote to the electoral vote is trivial, an artefact of how the Constitution set up the position of president.
This year, though, with President Donald Trump so far refusing to acknowledge his loss, the period from Election Day to the vote of the electoral college becomes much more fraught, introducing a number of points at which Trump can try to muck up the works.
It’s useful, then, to articulate what happens next and how Trump and his allies might try to change the outcome of the election by changing the composition of the electoral college.
This is itself generally not a big deal. Delaware, for example, has already certified Biden as the winner – not surprising given that it’s where he lives. This year, though, Trump and his allies have already suggested that they will try to interrupt the certification in some states, like Pennsylvania.
Republican officials in Georgia have been under enormous pressure to somehow reconsider Biden’s apparent win in the state. On Wednesday morning, Georgia’s secretary of state announced that a hand recount would be conducted. It’s unlikely to affect the results.
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Source: IOL
